The Science Council
“Absolutely unthinkable!”
“Absurd!”
“Ridiculous!”
Kara was not surprised by the reaction of the some of the members of the Science Council, Rokyn’s ruling body, to the proposed re-shrinking of Kandor. She was surprised that more did not reject the idea out of hand. While a majority openly scoffed at the notion, it was a very slim majority. Others, while no more enamored with the notion than their colleagues, were at least open to discussing the issue.
“It is a trick!” One councilman sneered. He pointed at Kara. “It is a trick to get us back under the power of her and her cousin.”
“You’ve heard Kara’s account of what has happened.” Zor countered. He was still a bit shaken by the news Kara and Rogue had given him concerning the fate of the Reality they had known.
“Lies!” The councilman declared. “Soon, we shall develop a means of breaking through this barrier that is hampering our world’s progress and then you shall see that it is all lies.”
“If you find a way to break into the Other Reality,” Kara’s voice was hard now. Rogue was getting the impression the Kara had little use for overstuffed bureaucrats. “What you will find will be oblivion. You will fade into nothingness because, over there, you never existed. Just as I would fade. I made the trip, talked with the Superman that now exists. And I had to return before I faded into nothingness.” She stepped forward, hands on her hips, a look on her face as if she were a young mother scolding errant children. “Get this through your heads. This planet is going to break up. It won’t explode like Krypton, it’ll merely crumble around you.”
“So you say.” The scoffer sniffed, clearly unimpressed.
“Those are the facts.” Kara countered. “Now you have a choice. You can get to work getting the people ready, or you can get the hell out of my way.”
“Kara Zor-El, you are out of line!” The scoffer was on his feet, his face red with barely suppressed rage. “You are speaking to the ruling council and you will remember it. Being Kryptonian, you are just as bound by our decisions as any other. You will, therefore, keep your peace. You will not cause a panic among the citizens. Is that understood?”
“Or what?” Rogue stepped up beside Kara. She was thankful Zor El had allowed her to use one of the Kryptonian learning devices. She now had a good, working knowledge of the Kryptonian language, though she knew her accent was atrocious. She also had one hell of a headache. Those devices, though thorough, were not pleasant and the dull pain in her head was making her a bit edgy.
“Or what?” She repeated her question. “You really want to do what Kara tells me the Council on Krypton did when Jor El told them that world was going to explode?”
Kara walked up to the standing Councilman until she was almost nose-to-nose with him. Moving on impulse she reached out and grabbed him by the front of his tunic and lifted him up and over the table between them.
“Let me clue you in, buster!” She hissed. “You have no authority over me. Any you might have had over me, which is debatable, died when I died. Do not presume to give me orders you overstuffed, pompous idiot.” She sat him down and turned to the remainder of the councilmen. “This situation is too serious for you to be allowed to squabble and hedge until time runs out.” She held up her hands and backed away. “However, I will not force anyone to return to a bottled city. That is a decision each person will have to make on his or her own. I will not, however, allow you to keep the people from making that choice for themselves. You have the right to stay on this planet and take your chances, if that is your wish. But you will NOT stop anyone from leaving if that is THEIR wish.” She turned and, catching Rogue’s eye, headed towards the council room exit. At the wide, double doors she turned. “You can either help, or you can stay out of the way. Either way, you will not interfere with the will of the people. Those that wish to stay with you idiots can, but I intend that those that wish to live be given a means of achieving that goal.”
“In a bottle. As a zoo specimen.” The loud-mouthed councilman had regained his composure. Kara ignored him and made sure she met the eyes of all the other council people.
“Just remember. You can help, or you can stay out of my way. Those are your choices.” She turned and slammed through the doors, knocking one off its track.
“Hmmm Touchy, isn’t she?” Zor whispered to Rogue, staring after his daughter. “I think she forgot our doors here are sliding, not swinging. “
“Actually, I just don’t think she has much use for career politicians.” Rogue looked back over her shoulder at the still stunned council. “Come to think of it, I don’t either.”
To Discover a World
“You’ve made an enemy in that one.” Zor El told his daughter as they made their way back to the El dwelling. “Then again, Nar Ur never cared much for the El family to begin with.”
“Ur?” Kara’s brow furrowed. “Any relation to Jax Ur?”
“A distant cousin, I believe.” Zor shook his head. “He has always maintained that Jax Ur was innocent of the crimes for which he was convicted. He claims Jax was framed by Jor El because Jor wanted to show off his fancy new Phantom Zone projector.”
“I’ve encountered Jax.” Kara said, shivering slightly. “He was a cold blooded killer. Uncle Jor should have pushed for execution rather than imprisonment in the Phantom Zone.”
“Who is Jax Ur?” Rogue asked, feeling somewhat lost in the conversation. “And what is the Phantom Zone?”
“Jax Ur was convicted of mass murder on the planet Krypton prior to its explosion.” Zor explained. “My brother, Jor El, was a key element in that conviction. The Phantom Zone is a sort of ethereal space occupying the same space and time as our own. Jor developed a method of projecting a person into that zone. There, they neither age nor hunger nor need sleep. They are basically wraiths. Jor proposed, and the council accepted, that, since Krypton had done away with the death sentence, hard core criminals be removed from society and placed into the Zone.”
“The Zone is not a nice place.” Kara continued. “I’ve been there. You can see and hear and know what is transpiring in the real universe, but you cannot interact. Criminals were to be placed in the zone for specific periods of time, though some, such as Jax Ur, General Zod, and others, were sentenced to the zone for all time.”
“The death sentence would have been kinder.” Rogue shivered.
“I agree.” Kara replied. “Unfortunately, the Kryptonian Council did not ask my opinion on the matter.”
“Kara, you were not even born when that transpired!” Zor reprimanded her.
“Perhaps not, but I and Kal were the ones that had to deal with the Phantom Zone criminals when they found ways of escaping the Zone.” Kara’s tone was decidedly bitter. Then she stopped, her mouth open, as if struck by some thought.
“By Rao.” She breathed. She turned and looked at Rogue. “The Phantom Zone. Before I came to Earth, Kal, then called Superboy, had to place a friend in the Phantom Zone to save his life. Lar Gand!” She turned to her father.
“Lar was a Daxamite, Father.” She told him. “And he was exposed to lead.”
“Rao!” Zor sucked in his breath. In the Reality he had come from, it had been learned that, in ages past, colonists from the planet Daxam had founded a new planet and called it Krypton. Due to war or natural disaster, no one was sure; the people of Daxam had reverted almost to the level of their equivalent of the Stone Ages, Cutting off all support to the fledgling colony. The colony had survived, barely. They themselves fell to the level of savagery before starting the long climb back to civilization. The years changed the Kryptonians, altering the body chemistry. They no longer had the allergic reaction to common lead that Daxamites had. Lead, to a Daxamite, was deadlier than Green K to a Kryptonian. And, unlike Kryptonians who would recover when removed from the vicinity of the Green K, a Daxamite exposed to lead would never recover.
“He was a space traveler.” Kara went on. “In fact, he landed on Krypton mere days before it exploded. Uncle Jor warned him off, giving him star charts and coordinates for Earth and sent him on his way. Lar, from what Kal told me and what I later learned from Lar himself, put in the coordinates, got his vessel underway, and then placed himself in cryogenic sleep for the voyage. When he reached Earth, some sixteen years later, he was met by Kal. Unfortunately, something had gone wrong with the sleep process. Lar woke with almost total amnesia. Since Kryptonians and Daxamites share a root language with surprisingly little lingual drift, Kal naturally assumed that Lar was from Krypton. The Charts furnished by Uncle Jor seemed to confirm this. Kal thought that Lar had to be an older brother that had some how escaped the explosion. And, since it was on a Monday that Kal found him, he named him Mon El.” Zor lifted his eyebrows at this, but said nothing as Kara continued. “To shorten this tale somewhat, it was not long before Lar became exposed to an element rare on Daxam but plentiful on Earth: Lead. Simply put, the exposure and the resulting reaction were enough to restore Lar’s memory. He told Kal who he was and what was happening. Not knowing what else to do, Kal used the Phantom Zone projector to place Lar in the Zone. To save his life.” Her eyes were haunted as she looked up at her father. “What if he’s still there?” She asked in a small voice.
“He can’t be, dear one.” Zor pulled his daughter close. “From what you told me, that history no longer exists.”
“But it DID exist.” Kara insisted. “Otherwise I would not be here. You would not be here. Rokyn would not be here.” There were tears in her eyes. “Father, Lar, in our history, would spend a thousand years in the Phantom Zone. In the Thirtieth century, Brainiac 5 will...would...develop a serum that will keep him alive. Make him immune to the effects of lead. That is according to our history. Not in the new one. In this history, from what I have learned from the Supergirl in the other Reality, Lar does not exist. Instead, his counterpart is a Martian named Monel. Mon El, Lar Gand, is and forever will be, trapped in the Phantom Zone.
“Perhaps not.” Zor mused. He smiled. “You see, I worked with Jor on the original projector.” He tapped his temple. “I can build a projector. Then we can see if, indeed, your Lar Gand is there.” He held op a hand. “However, we cannot allow him to leave the Zone or the effects of the lead exposure will return. Until we can find a cure, he must stay there.” Rogue patted Kara on the shoulder.
“Hey, girlfriend, if anyone can find a cure, it would be Reed Richards. Or at least he would know who we would need to go to for help.” Kara looked up at her and she smiled. “Hey, if this is the same Mon El you’ve told me about in the Legion of Super Heroes, then I gotta see. You made him sound like a real hunk!” Despite herself, Kara had to laugh. She grew serious, however, as Rogue continued. “But that’s in the future. Right now, let’s see what we can do to save these people. One thing at a time, girlfriend, one thing at a time.”
To Discover a World
The days turned into weeks. Working with her father, him on the planet surface and her in the Fantastic Four’s vessel, Kara had been able to cut in to every type of broadcast. Utilizing the vessel’s elaborate communications system, she had broadcast to the entire population. She had informed them of the ultimate break up of the planet, the Council’s stand on the issue, and her own proposed course of action. She made it clear that, should they choose, they would be allowed to remain on the planet, hoping against hope that the council would come up with a way to save the planet from destruction. Those that wished, however, could and would be shrunk once again and returned to Earth. She made it clear that, according to findings by Zor, that enlargement, at a later date, would be highly unlikely. The process that had enlarged them once would not work a second time. In effect, they were warned that, this time, the shrinking would, more than likely, be permanent.
As expected, there had been some panic, but nowhere near the volume insinuated by the council. All in all, the population was split in their desires. A very slight majority wished to be reshrunk, while the remainder wished to find alternative methods.
The problems began, however, when the council made it’s announcement that it would not condone re shrinking, nor would it allow key personnel, those it was felt were needed for research in saving the planet, to be involved with the Re-shrinking project. Kara had instantly gone on the air with a rebuttal and a warning. This time she publicly warned the council not to interfere with her. She also warned the council not to interfere with any person, whether they felt him or her to be a key person or not, that wished to go through the re-shrinking. In a private meeting, however, she had let out all the stops.
“You really intend to out do your relative, don’t you?” She told Nar Ur.
“What do you mean?” The councilman demanded, stiffening.
“You really intend to be a greater mass murderer than Jax Ur, don’t you?” She was intentionally antagonizing the councilman, Rogue was certain. Yet, for the life of her, she could not figure out way.
For her part, Rogue was kept busy on the surface of the planet while Zor worked via secure com-link from his workshop with Kara in the ship. They were getting the apparatus ready that would be needed to simultaneously shrink the population and transport them aboard the vessel.
Rogue, working with volunteers, was busy constructing a city. They would work steadily, working according to dimensions provided by Zor, to create a compact city that would be capable of housing the entire population. It was nothing elaborate. Simply the basics that would be needed by the inhabitants. They also moved in equipment, livestock, and other basic necessities. Rogue, with her power, made the building a breeze. Moving at super speed, using strength for lifting and heat vision for welding, she would create the basic structure and then move on to the next while teams of the Kryptonian equivalent of electricians and plumbers and carpenters moved in to finish the placed up.
During phase days, which the Kryptonians had learned to anticipate, Rogue would take a break in the vessel with Kara until the phasing was over.
When the call came in for assistance, Rogue thought nothing of it. She simply responded.
The call had come from a dwelling on the outskirts of the old city. Supposedly an elderly couple that wished to move to the new city but were being held back by council goons. When she arrived at the dwelling, she found no elderly couple, no belongings that need to be transported, nothing to indicate that the dwelling had even been used recently.
“What the hell is going on here?” Rogue muttered, annoyed.
“I am afraid you will soon see, outworlder.” The voice was muffled, coming from behind her. She turned to see a person dressed in some form of protective suit, his or her identity obscured. She started forward and then doubled over, sharp pain racing through her entire body. Gasping, she fell to her knees, her strength draining from her body. With an effort, she raised her head as the figure stepped forward. He or she held out a hand in which a green, glowing, clump of metal rested.
“So it is true.” The voice mused. “You are not Kryptonian, yet you suffer our weakness. Interesting.”
Rogue felt herself slipping into unconsciousness. It was Kryptonite! Green Kryptonite. As she slipped into darkness, she wondered if she would ever awaken.
“This sucks!" Jennifer Walters tossed her brief case on the couch and headed for the bedroom of her apartment. Despite what many may have expected of an apartment belonging to an up and coming lawyer, not to mention one of the more visible of the multitude of super beings, the decorations were rather basic, giving the indication that it’s inhabitant spent as little time as possible there. Yet, over the past few months, she had spent more time here than at any time previous to the resurrection of Kara. Before Kara and Rogue had moved to their new digs in the Arctic, the three had spend almost all their time together. And, afterwards, Jenny had started to feel that a part of her life had lost some of its luster.
She had changed out of her suit and into a bikini (she was so distracted that she had not noticed that she had grabbed the bottoms of one bikini and the top of another) and was looking with a total lack of interest in the fridge, trying to decide what to fix for dinner, when the beeping started. It took her a few moments to realize that it was coming from the terminal Reed Richards had installed when she had become an auxiliary member of the Fantastic Four.
With a sound that could almost be called a sigh of relief, she let the fridge close and moved to the terminal, hitting the receive key. The words ‘rerouting transmission’ appeared and were quickly replaced by a familiar face framed by disheveled blond hair.
"Kara?"
"Jenny, Thank Rao." Kara looked completely strung out. "Jenny, We need help out here. Rogue is missing and I don’t have the time to look for her!"
"Whoa!" Jenny held up a hand. "Start from the beginning. Where are you and what’s going on?"
Kara took a deep breath and told Jenny everything.
"My folks just informed me." She wound up the explanation. "Unfortunately, the planet is due to phase at any moment and I’m working against the clock to get this miniaturization apparatus complete. I need some one here that can either take over for me or some one that can go planet side and look for Rogue." Jenny thought furiously then shook her head.
"No. You need to stay with the ship." She said. "Most likely Rogue was taken by those on the council that are against your actions. If they could get Rogue, that means they rendered her powerless. If they could do it to her, they could do it to you." She tapped her chin and then grinned. "As a matter of fact, I think I know just the person that can help you out. Some one who can handle the heavy gravity and still function…Me!" She popped a mini disc into the terminal and set it to record. "Okay, send the coordinates. I’ll borrow one of the FF vessels and be there as quickly as I can. Probably about two days."
"But what if the planet phases?" Kara asked
"Then it phases." Jenny sighed. "We can only hope that Rogue can survive it. There is just no way help can get to you any faster. Every one else is gone with the Sliver Surfer…something to do with Cosmic Unions or some such stuff."
A few more words of encouragement and they signed off. Within moments, dressed in her Fantastic Four outfit, Jenny was heading out the door and to Pier Four.