Author’s note: This story takes place during a period of time depicted in a shared Marvel universe story written by members of the Cosmic Powers Fan Fiction Group. The story, called the Cosmic Union, can be seen at http://marvelite.prohosting.com/surfer/fanfic/
Winter in the Arctic. Blowing winds caused the heavy snow to fall in almost horizontal sheets. Scientists and those few brave individuals that call the Arctic home sat huddled in their Quonset huts and prefabs, protected from the man-killing elements that raged on the other side of the thin walls. Any human caught out in this blizzard was risking a quick, cold death. Any normal human, that is.
Slicing through the sheets of falling ice and snow, Rogue alternately used her telescopic and x-ray visions to navigate through the storm. Though she was able to discern differences in temperature, extremes at either end of the spectrum had no effect on her or her system.
Out of habits developed over the past months, she did not make directly for her destination. Instead, she zigzagged through the sky before finally coming to ground in a place that, for all practical purposes, was completely invisible from the air and was even hard to see from the ground unless you stood in front of the massive doors.
Unlike its counterpart in the Other Reality, these doors were not locked with a huge key. Instead, it locked and unlocked only at the touch of certain individuals. She was one of those individuals. As well she should be. For this was home.
It was far different than the few caverns that she and Kara had carved out months ago. Then it had been a simple affair of four small caverns branching off one central cavern. They had not been allowed to finish it. They had taken their plans for furnishing the caverns to Tony Stark who, in turn, turned it over to his people. They had started an intensive project that would have taken months to complete. Then help had arrived. Help in a very unexpected way. Traveling to this Reality, Superman, Green Lantern, and a few other heroes of the other Reality had joined with Tony Stark’s men and Prof. Xavier to create a Fortress of Solitude similar to Superman’s, yet with touches here and there to reflect it’s future inhabitants.
As she stepped in through the double doors, allowing them to close behind her, Rogue was once again taken by the sight that greeted her. Standing just inside the entrance, bracing an opening into the main cavern, were two massive statues. Originally, for want of a better idea, Superman had installed copies of the statues in his own fortress. His mother and Father. Jor and Lara El. It had not taken Kara long to change that. Within days, the figures, standing on opposite sides of the opening and together holding a globe of Krypton over the opening, had been redone. Gone were Jor and Lara in contemporary dress of the Krypton of Superman’s reality. In their place stood Zor and Allura El. Kara’s real mother and father in the contemporary dress of Argo-City, the Kryptonian city that had, due to Zor-El’s foresight, lived through the explosion of Krypton. The Krypton of her reality, that is.
Beyond the archway, in the main cavern, there were exhibits of the adventures both she and Kara had had since the press conference during which Tony Stark had introduced Team Supergirl. Kara had been insistent about that. It was not strictly HER fortress, but THEIR fortress.
Kara had sat aside one small cavern where she displayed replicas of artifacts she recalled as being in her cousin’s fortress, but other than that, decorating was something they did together. Off to the left of the cavern ran a tunnel that led to the infirmary. Here, again thanks to Superman, an elaborate automated medical system had been constructed. With the help of Reed Richards, the equipment had been fine tuned to account for the subtle differences between the other Reality’s Superman and the type of Kryptonian Kara was and Rogue had become.
To the right of the cavern ran a series of tunnels that led to living and guest quarters, a kitchen, and other basic living areas.
Straight ahead, just to the left of the tunnel that led to what Rogue called Kara’s Kryptonian room, was a short tunnel that ended in the Joint Computer/ Communications Room. From here, she or Kara could contact any one they might need to contact. Also a special system had been installed that would allow her to contact both the Justice League and Superman in the other Reality. More than once Rogue had walked in to find Kara chatting away with either Superman or with Linda Danvers. She herself had talked at length with them both and with other heroes such as Power Girl, Nightwing, and Wonder Woman. She had made a mental note not to mention this to Jubilee or that girl would always be clamoring to come here so she could talk to Robin. It was also in this room that Rogue would often find Kara, using the super-computer to sift through data, looking for who knew what.
And so Rogue found her now. So intense was she on the star charts she was studying, she didn’t even notice Rogue entering the room.
"Whatcha got there?" Rogue asked, coming up behind her and putting her hands on her shoulders.
"Wha!!!!" Kara literally lifted out of her seat, spinning around. "Don’t DO that!" She scolded. Rogue smiled. "Give a girl a heart attack." Though Kara grumbled, her smile took any sting out of the words. She took her seat again and, with a few quick keystrokes, called up two star charts, displaying them side-by-side on the screen. "Take a look at this!" She exclaimed. "I think I’ve found it!"
Rogue looked at the meaningless charts and shook her head.
"I have no idea what I’m looking at." She admitted.
"This," Kara indicated the chart on the left side of the screen. "is a chart I got from Superman." Next she indicated the chart on the right. "This one came from Reed Richards." She caused both charts to zoom in on one particular area. From what Rogue could see, they were identical. Using a light pen, Kara circled certain features on the left-hand chart. "These are what I guess you could say are landmarks that I remember. By first studying this chart until I could find the exact sequence of stars that I remember, I was able then to run a sort until the computer came up with a corresponding area in this Reality." The computer obligingly circled the matches. "Look close. See any differences?"
Rogue studied both charts. At first she saw no difference then it seemed to leap out at her.
"Here." Rogue indicated a red spot on the right-hand chart. "This isn’t on the other chart."
"Exactly." Kara nodded, enthusiastic. "Yet in MY reality, it WAS there."
"Okay. So what does that mean?"
"Look at this." Kara pressed a few keys and the left-hand screen zoomed in closer. At this magnification, Rogue could just barely make out a small speck that could have been a planet. "Now watch." Another key pressed and the screen began to flicker. "What you are seeing is the same sector of space over a period of time. Watch that speck." Rogue watched, her eyebrows rising as, time and again the speck seemed to disappear. Reappearing moments later. When she mentioned this, Kara nodded.
"Exactly." Kara looked at the screen, her face troubled now. "I believe that is it. But if it is, we’ve got to get moving."
"Kara." Rogue put a hand on Kara’s arm. "What exactly is it you think you’ve found?" Kara met Rogue’s eyes.
"Rokyn. " She breathed. "Rao help us and them, I think its Rokyn."
To Discover A World
"It’s a long story." Kara and Rogue had moved from the Computer Room to the common area that adjoined their rooms. Kara was in an overstuffed chair; her feet tucked up under her, a steaming mug of hot chocolate in her hands. She blew at the steam and then looked up. "It really began before the Krypton in my Reality exploded."
Rogue, sprawled on a couch, leaning against an arm rest and nursing her own mug of chocolate kept silent, letting Kara tell it in her own time. A com screen showing Reed Richards remained quiet as well. Rogue had insisted that Reed be consulted on this.
"An android, built by the machine masters of the Planet Colu and every bit as evil, had made a career of stealing segments of different societies to be used as exhibits. He would take whole communities. Using a device he had developed, he would shrink the entire community, people, buildings, everything, and then transport them to his vessel where they would be placed in what amounted to over glorified terrariums." Kara paused, taking a sip of her chocolate. "This android, by the name of Brainiac, visited Krypton mere days before the disaster. He selected and kidnapped the city of Kandor. Though I am sure it was not his intention, Brainiac actually saved a segment of Kryptonian society from destruction."
"I have heard you refer to a Brainiac before. I believe you called him Brainiac 5?" Rogue observed.
"Querl Dox was his real name." Kara nodded. "It was his great-great-great grandfather that instigated the Coluan revolt against the machine masters. Brainiac had genetically altered him and then raised him to be a son. Due to the altering and the proximity to Brainiac, Vril Dox’s intellect was raised by a tremendous amount. Interestingly enough, each generation thereafter had a higher intellect level than the one before. Querl had reached a twelfth level intellect and it was suspected that any children he might have would have an even higher one."
"Twelfth Level." Reed mused. "I recall speaking to that lad about time travel. If I understand the method of measurement used, a Twelfth Level Intellect in that Reality is extremely high."
"Yes sir. The intellect level of the average person is about 6 or 7. I would venture to guess that, were you over there, you yourself would be classified as an eleven or twelve." Kara nodded. "In any case, Brainiac had stolen the city of Kandor and put it in a bottle, so to speak. Years later, Brainiac would reach Earth and steal a city. The city he chose to steal was Metropolis."
"Oh ho!" Rogue chortled, knowing where this was going. "Superman lived in Metropolis."
"Right. To shorten the tale, Superman not only was able to stop Brainiac and restore Metropolis, he was able to rescue the city of Kandor as well. He had the city set up in his Fortress for years. Then I came along and, shortly after that, we discovered two suspended animation chambers in space, floating in a trajectory from where Argo-city had broken apart towards Earth. My mother and father." Kara paused and then plunged on. "My parents chose to live in Kandor. Superman and I had developed a method of shrinking people, using Brainiac’s basic design, allowing travel to and from Kandor. Unfortunately, we could not for the longest time, develop a way of enlarging anyone that had been shrunk when the city was first bottled. Metropolis was lucky in that it was restored to its rightful size within a short time after it had been shrunk. It seems the shrinking process, over a period of time, became irreversible. We tried a few times with some test animals. The results were always hideously painful and ultimately fatal. Finally, together with the Kandorian scientists, we developed a way to overcome the problem and enlarge the city. The Kandorian council then located a world similar to Krypton, complete with a red star where they wished to be enlarged. So, using vessels Superman and I constructed, we took the city to the world and enlarged it."
"Why vessels?" Rogue asked.
"Remember, we are powerless under a red sun." Kara pushed a strand of hair out of her eyes and continued. "The council then attacked us."
"What!" Rogue was flabbergasted. "Why on earth for?"
"They were intelligent." Kara smiled. "They knew that the citizens of Kandor had, over the years, come to rely on Superman and myself to fix all their problems, to always be there to rescue them. They wanted that to change. They wanted the people of Rokyn to learn to rely on themselves instead of on us."
"So they attacked you."
"Right. The rendered us unconscious, put us on a ship, and sent us on our way back to earth. They knew by the time we regained consciousness, it would be too late. You see, they had chosen their new world with care. This world was unique in that it only existed in our dimension for short periods of time. Before we could return, the world would have faded out of our dimension. They left a recording on the ship, informing us of this and their reasoning for what they had done." Kara looked into her cup, not really seeing anything but her memories. "I can see now their logic."
"Incredible." Reed announced. "But why do you think that this world, in this Reality, is the Rokyn of yours?"
"That world does not exist in the current Reality, over there." Kara answered. "But what if it weren’t present at the time of the Great Crisis? What if it had been phased into another dimension or, as I believe, another Reality? This Reality! When the changes occurred, it would have not been effected. But its path to the other Reality would have been blocked. What if it was stuck here though still trying to phase into a Reality that no longer exists?"
"It would slowly tear itself apart." Reed answered after only a slight pause. "I see your point. Even if there were only the slightest chance it is your Rokyn, you would have to make the effort to find out for sure. And if so, somehow affect a rescue of the surviving Kandorians."
"Exactly, sir."
"Okay." Reed thought for a moment and then nodded to himself. "The Fantastic Four has a vessel that can make that trip in a matter of days. I am afraid that we are already committed to another task. However, you and Rogue are welcome to borrow it. But tell me this. How are you going to pull this off if, as you say, you will be powerless?"
"That, sir, is something I haven’t quite got figured out." Kara admitted. "But, between the two of us, I am sure Rogue and I can come up with something."
"Great." Rogue shook her head. "That’s just great." She heaved a sigh and stood. "Well, when do we leave?"
As he sped through the void, he contemplated the summons he had received.
Though he had no inkling of what the danger might be, he knew also that Dr. Strange would not summon him for petty purposes. Add to that the fact that the summons had included Quasar, it was easy to see that, whatever crisis faced them; it was one of cosmic intensity. So, taking their leave of the Star Masters, both he and Quasar had set out for Earth, each blazing their own trail.
So intense was he in his effort to unravel this puzzle, he very nearly missed the sudden and swiftly growing distortion in his path as his path cut through a supposedly planet free system.
Slowing, he watched and waited as the distortion rapidly expanded and began to solidify. A planet. A large, obviously heavy gravity planet was materializing before him. And, though not yet solid, he could already sense.... life!
Interesting. Were the pull of the summons not so strong, he would take the time to investigate this novelty. There was something strangely familiar to the feel of the life on this world.
He altered his trajectory, curving around the upper atmosphere of the planet to pick up the trail on the other side. And again he paused.
A ship! Though not in his direct path, it lay close enough attract his attention. The Fantastic Four! Perhaps Reed Richards had found the planet to be worthy of study as well. But would Reed Richards, if there were a crisis on Earth, be here? He paused, his desire to answer the summons as quickly as possible warring with his curiosity. In the end, he elected to pause to investigate. If it were not Reed Richards, he might still be able to discover some indication as to the nature of the summons. He would also impart what knowledge he had already gleaned concerning the planet below. The silver glowing board tilted and raced forward, it’s occupant balanced easily as it neared the vessel.
"Okay. We’re here." Rogue muttered, glancing out the view port. "So what do we do now?" She then looked down to the bandage on her finger. When the planet had rematerialized last she had been in the galley, preparing a meal. The turbulence had caused the vessel to shake, which in turn had caused Rogue to slip with the knife she was using to cut some meat.
After Kara had complimented her on her mastery of swearing and bandaged the cut, she had once again warned her. They were powerless under the red sun.
"I haven’t the slightest idea." Kara sat back, disgusted. "I had expected there to be some activity in space, some indication that the inhabitants were at least trying to flee." She waved a hand toward the forward view screen without looking. "Nothing. Nothing to indicate they ever redeveloped even the rudiments of space flight. Not even a communications satellite."
Rogue’s eyes had followed Kara’s wave, glancing out the screen. Her eyes widened and she moved closer to Kara.
"Kara, we’ve got company." She said just as the silvery figure slid off the screen, to the side of the vessel. Kara spun and looked out and then gave Rogue a thoroughly disgusted look.
"Company? Out here? Rogue, Kryptonian’s are powerless under this sun. How could we have visitors if they don’t even have space flight?
"Don’t ask me." Rogue replied, glancing over at a bulkhead. "Ask him." She jerked her thumb and Kara turned. With a startled yelp, she jumped to her feet, leaping for the weapons locker, as first a head and then a torso phased through the outer and inner hulls of the vessel.
"Peace." The silvery figure spoke as he stepped fully onto the deck. He looked around. "Reed Richards is not here." It was not a question, but rather like a confirmation of something he had already guessed.
"No, he’s not, Surfer." Rogue stepped forward, motioning for Kara to relax and move away from the weapons locker.
"You know me?" The Sliver Surfer looked at Rogue. "I do not recall having seen you before."
"You haven’t." Rogue agreed. "But most People of Earth know of you. Especially those with super powers or unusual abilities." She gestured around at the vessel. "Reed Richards allowed us the use of this ship."
"It is strange. Such a novelty as this would surely have intrigued Reed Richards. Or so I believe."
"It did intrigue him." Rogue nodded. "However, pressing business kept him from joining us."
"It is as I thought." The Surfer nodded. "I can but assume that he received a summons as did I and even now awaits my arrival. So you study this anomaly in his stead."
"Actually, we’re here to rescue the inhabitants." Kara spoke up, for the first time. The Surfer looked at her, his eyes widening slightly.
"You resemble one I have seen before." He said. "One who was and is but is no longer the same."
"Well, I doubt it was anyone I would know." Kara spoke curtly. It was still difficult for her to speak about her past.
The Surfer looked first at her and then turned back to Rogue, studying her clothes. When his eyes found the symbol above her left breast he nodded.
"It is as I thought." He stepped closer to Kara. "You are not from here." It was not a question. "You are from the other reality." His eyes glowed bright and a silvery light enveloped both women.
"Hey!" Kara stepped back, moving again towards the weapons locker. If the Surfer knew her destination, it didn’t bother him.
"It is but a scan." He spoke as the light faded. "You," he pointed at Kara, "are indeed of another reality. But not the same reality as the Superman that I have most recently seen. But rather from the reality of the Superman I once called friend." He shook his head. "That reality is gone. And yet you are here." He turned to Rogue. "And you, there is something of that other reality in you as well. Though I can see that you were born here, in this reality, you are now closer to belonging to her", he indicated Kara, "reality more than this one." He turned and looked out the view screen to the image of the planet rotating below them. "And the life on this planet. It is of the same reality. A mystery indeed." He turned again, looking at Kara. "You are Kara. Your cousin spoke of you, when last I saw him."
"You knew Kal?" Kara was shaken, grasping for something to support her.
"I did. It is sad that he, as he was, is no longer." He turned, heading for the hull. "However, I cannot tarry. I must be on my way. I must reach Earth."
"Galactus!" Rogue paled. "Is he on his way?"
"I do not believe so." The Surfer answered. "I am but answering a summons by Dr. Strange."
"Wait." Kara stepped forward. "I don’t suppose that we could, uh, recruit you." She ignored Rogue’s fearful glance.
"Recruit?"
"We have a slight problem." Kara told him. "We expected the inhabitants of the planet to be able to help in their own evacuation of the planet. Now we see that is not possible, and neither of us have any power here."
"Indeed?" He glanced at them again, his eyes glowing softly brighter as he scanned them at the molecular level. "Ah yes. " He nodded. "My scan showed me that persons of your kind are powerless under the rays of a red sun." He paused for a moment, his eyes again glowing. Both women felt a slight tingling throughout their bodies, nothing more. "That shall no longer be a problem for you. It was a simple matter of molecular manipulation. The radiation specific to red stars will no longer hinder you. Nor will the radiation of other stars save that of yellow ones. That is as much as I can do at the present. I cannot stay, I am sorry. I can offer you one piece of advice, however. He looked back at them both. "Move swiftly. I cannot say why, but I believe you have even less time than you realize. Good Luck." He was gone, Kara rushing to the views screen to see his form disappear in a slivery streak that shot away, to be swallowed by the depths of space.
"Kara?" She turned to see Rogue, the bandage on her finger removed and her attention fixed on the cut. She watched, thunderstruck, as the wound sealed it self, healing. Within seconds, there was not even a scar to indicate that she had been cut. Rogue looked up and met Kara’s eyes.
"We have our powers back!" She breathed. Kara said nothing as she turned and looked at the planet that now filled the screen.
For a long moment she stood there. When she finally spoke, she did so without turning.
"He just looked and changed our molecular structure." Her voice was small, cowed. She turned then, her eyes troubled. "He just looked at us."
"It’s a new place you’ve come to, Kara." Rogue stepped up, putting an arm around her friend. "A new, wondrous place, and yet perhaps because it is so wondrous, it is can be more dangerous as well."
"This Galactus you and this...this Silver Surfer...spoke of. Who is he?"
"You don’t want to know." Rogue muttered.
"But I do." Kara insisted. "I need to know all I can."
"No, believe me, you don’t want to know." Rogue sighed and turned toward the console. "Unfortunately, whether you want to or not, you need to know. If I am right, I would imagine that Reed has a very elaborate data base...ah here it is." She pulled up and file and information started flowing across one of the auxiliary screens. "This is what Reed has on Galactus and his Heralds."
Kara started down the list of known Heralds, past and present. Her face paled as she saw the Silver Surfer listed there. "This Galactus had the power to hold the silver guy?"
"Did and still does, if I don’t miss my guess." Rogue replied. Kara continued down the list, her mouth dropping with a gasp as she grew even paler. There, among the names of the past Heralds, was a name she could not help but recognize...Superman."
"According to this, it was only for a short time." Rogue read over her shoulder.
"But these dates!" Kara did a quick calculation. "If these are correct, then that would have happened before the Anti-monitor showed up in our Reality. That would be MY Superman.... my cousin!"
"Hmmmmm. Yep. That would have been him." Rogue agreed. Kara looked at her and then went back to reading. She skipped over the rest of the Heralds and started reading about Galactus himself. By the time she was a third of the way through the information that Reed Richards had accumulated, her hands were shaking.
"By Rao!" She breathed. "We can’t fight something like that!"
"You just remember that, girlfriend, if ever the big guy shows up. There are ways to beat him.... but I doubt seriously that we could do it alone." Rouge patted Kara’s shoulder. "In fact I would just about guarantee that we couldn’t."
Kara shut down the screen and looked back out the views screen. She was shivering uncontrollably, and it had nothing to do with the temperature in the vessel.
There were none of the tall, Kryptonian style spires that Kara had expected. Rather the buildings that came into view as she and Rogue descended through the atmosphere were squat, single or two story affairs.
As they flew in over the center of the city they could see faces of people turning upward, staring. Some began pointing and running in the direction of their flight.
"That looks like some official building." Kara pointed and banked downward, lighting on the lawn of the only building with more than two stories they had seen. Within moments, a crowd had gathered around them."
"Kara? Kara Zor-El?" A voice out of the crowd spoke up. Rogue looked at Kara. Though she had recognized the name, the accent was strange and was followed by a string of words that held no meaning for her."
"Kryptonesse." Kara explained. She smiled. "You might be Kryptonian inside now, but you still need to learn the language."
"I flunked French. " Rogue grumped, looking around at the crowd of faces. "And now she wants me to learn a language from another planet." Kara laughed and turned back to the crowd.
"Yes. It’s me." She told them. She caught her breath as the crowd parted and a man and woman pushed through. Rogue tensed as the man reached Kara and threw his arms around her, the woman closing with them both in, what she realized, was a family hug. Kara pushed away, wiping tears from her face. "Rogue, My mother and father, Allura and Zor El."
The woman smiled and held out a hand to Rogue, pulling her into the hug.
"You are most welcome, sister of our daughter." Her words were heavily accented, but in English.
"It’s been a replay of your Uncle’s argument with the Kryptonian Council." Allura told her daughter and Rogue over the kitchen table.
After a promise that they would return, Kara and Rogue had been allowed to leave to spend a small amount of time with the El family.
Naturally the first thing that had interested the scientist in Zor, once he was satisfied that his daughter was alive and well, were Kara and Rogue’s powers. Or rather, why they still had them under the red star.
"It’s a long story, Dad." Kara was having a hard time keeping her hands to herself. She was constantly touching her father or her mother, as if to convince herself that they were truly alive. "I’ll tell you later. Right now, just accept the fact that red stars don’t bother me anymore. Nor, it seems, do heavy gravity planets...I can still fly."
Zor opened his mouth to argue but Allura shushed him.
"Later dear." She insisted. She turned and smiled at her daughter. "What I would like to know is what happened to your costume and where did you get that outlandish outfit?" Her eyes cut to Rogue. "Both of you."
"Styles have changed slightly." Rogue smiled. She really did not want to get into the subject of what had happened to the reality they had known.
And now they sat around the table, finishing off Kara’s first Kryptonian meal in a long time and Rogue’s first ever. She had surprised herself by liking the foods Allura had served as much as she did.
"The fools wouldn’t listen." Zor slammed a hand on the table. "I begged and pleaded with them to turn their energies into a finding a way for us to leave this Rao-forsaken planet. Instead, they have wasted every resource in an attempt to stop the planet from phasing."
"Well, they haven’t succeeded." Rogue said, somewhat bluntly.
"No. No they haven’t. At best, they have prolonged the life of the planet for a matter of years, if not months." Zor slumped in his seat. "Whatever happened over there blocked the planet’s entrance into that Reality. So, instead of phasing smoothly back and forth as it did, it gets part way there and is bounced back."
"That’s why there are no tall buildings." Allura put in. "The quakes caused by the phasing brought them all down. So we began spreading out rather than building up."
"Mom, Dad. This planet is going to break up. Soon." Kara stood. "We need to get you and everyone off."
"It’s not that simple, Kara." Zor shook his head.
"Sure it is." Rogue put in. "With our powers, Kara and I can fashion a couple of arks capable of holding an atmosphere and large enough to accommodate the entire population. Then we take the Arks to another planet. Simple."
"And unleash over three hundred thousand
super beings on the galaxy?
Zor smiled. "Kryptonians are just like every other people, Rogue. We have
our good ones and bad ones. No, our best bet, and the safest one for the rest
of the galaxy, would be to stay right here or, were it possible, under another
red star." He sighed. "Even so, everyone within those arks would be
dead within minutes of leaving the surface of this planet."
"What do you mean?"
"An unforeseen side effect of the enlarging process." Allura put a hand over Kara’s. "It attuned us to this planet’s foibles."
"She’s right." Zor confirmed. "Whatever force causes this planet to phase infused every living being in Kandor when we were enlarged. When it shifts, we shift. But we have to be on the planet’s surface when that shift takes place." He shuddered. "Haven’t you wondered why there has been no real attempt to return to space? We tried. We sent up crews to construct a series of satellites. We had no idea what would happen. We thought they would just have to wait until the planet reappeared." He shook his head. "We sent the crews. The planet shifted. When we returned, we tried to contact those crews. Nothing. We sent some people up to look. What they found was horrifying."
"The crews had shifted with the planet." Allura continued the tale, her voice soft. "Their vessels didn’t. The crews were phased out of them and into space. When we phased back, the crews, thankfully already dead, phased back with us, sometimes materializing within the center of bulkheads. It was terrible."
"Your mother was with one of the investigating crews." Zor commented. He reached out and took Allura’s hand, squeezing it tight. "Thankfully, she returned to the surface before the next shift."
Rogue looked around at the faces before her. Zor, Allura, and Kara. Each of them seemingly with out a clue as to their next course of action.
"Uh." She cleared her throat, embarrassed by bringing up what she figured had already been thought of and discarded for one reason or another. "Why not just reverse the process?" Blank stares greeted her words. "You know, if it was the enlarging process that put you in tune with the planet, wouldn’t an exact reversal restore you to normal?"
"You mean, re-shrinking the entire population?" Kara asked.
"Well, yeah." Rogue answered, somewhat defensively.
"Re shrink?" Zor started to scoff, then his eyes locked on Rogue. "Why not?" he mused. "Indeed, why not?"
"Zor El." Allura’s sharp voice got his attention. "What are you talking about?"
"It’s the only way." He looked at his wife and, while there was some hope in his eyes, there was also resignation. "We have to do it. If we want to survive, if we want any portion of the Kryptonian culture to survive, we have to go back into the bottle."