PART THREE
The Fortress
Undisclosed Location in the Arctic
Two Months Ago"Let....*hngh!*...let go of me!" I snarl as I strain against the snake-like tendrils of liquid metal that coil around my arms and legs.
Please do not resist, the voice of Kelex, the Kryptonian servitor robot floating in front of me, resounds in my head.
It is against my wishes, my programming, even my very nature to cause you harm.....but you must stop this. If you continue to struggle, I will have to use more forceful measures to restrain you.I manage to wriggle an arm free, and lunge at the silvery orb, which darts below my fist with no visible effort.
"You say you don't want to harm me," I say, wrenching at a metallic tendril that has wrapped around my torso,
"but then you want to make me your prisoner?!"I wish nothing of the sort, Kal-El, Kelex responds.
I intend to keep you safe. This planet is in a state of flux that will, in all likelihood, lead to cataclysm. As more metahumans arise, destructive conflict becomes more and more of an inevitability. And far worse than that, this world has drawn the attention of forces beyond them. The entity known as the Silver Surfer is proof enough, but I also have reason to believe that the Collector of Worlds has found a way to establish itself on this planet as well. Acting in tandem, these 'heroes' may have the power to turn away some of these threats, but eventually one will come to pass. They will all die, Kal-El. And you with them. Unless I take preventative action.The tendrils pull me down, and above me, I see Kelex begin to change shape again, his spherical form once again opening up like flower petals, then splitting into four parts.
These four segments of itself hover in the air in a square pattern, and between them, I see a shimmering light begin to form. Spinning slowly, the shimmering light takes the form of a flat square, like a sheet of glass, until it starts to crackle with light around its edges. The inside of the square grows darker, like looking down into a cave....or a pit.
You will be kept from harm in the confines of the Phantom Zone, Kelex's voice buzzes in my head.
A lower spatial dimension where matter and energy exist, but have no substance. Where the electromagnetic patterns of consciousness persist even in the absence of a physical body. In that space, separate from this material plane, you will be able to wait out the impending crises in safety, until humanity and all of the threats it brings upon itself have passed.As the translucent square-- some sort of gate or portal to this 'Phantom Zone,' I guess-- grows larger, I feel it pulling me towards it. At first a gentle tug, barely perceptible, but within seconds I feel it rip me away from the tendrils that were holding me in place, pulling me in like a black hole.
I put every ounce of focus I can into rebuilding my gravitational field, to fly away from the Phantom Zone portal. Resisting with all my might, all I can do is slow down its pull.
"I--*ngh!*-- I can't let you do this!" I shout, my body wracked with agony as I strain against the portal's grip.
"Lock me away in another dimension, because--*rgh!*-- a disaster might happen? I won't--"You must, Kelex responds.
We were spared the destruction of our home world, Kal. I must do all in my power to spare you the destruction of this world as well.The pitch black void inside the shimmering square, like a pit that falls forever, seems to reach out to me. Shadows erupt from within, flooding the cavernous chamber with veins of darkness.
I grit my teeth, and shift my thoughts away from my gravitational field, and instead towards the searing heat building in my eyes.
This thing, thinking it knows what's best for me, wants to take me away.
Away from Earth.
Away from all of the people I swore to protect, from all of the work I have to do.
Away from Ma.
Away from Jimmy and Perry and the rest of my friends at the
Planet.Away from Lois.
If it succeeds, I'll never see any of them again.
Kelex thinks the only way to survive his prophecy of doom is to run away and hide.
"Like hell," I say, and let loose with blasts of scarlet light hotter than the core of the sun.
The beams strike into the heart of the Phantom Zone portal, scattering across the crystalline surface. At first, it doesn't seem to have any effect, but the more scorching heat I pour into the darkness, the more I see the black shadows reaching out from the portal turn brown, then red, then orange and yellow, before giving way to a bright white and--
.
.
.
...OOF, HOLY MACKEREL, I ACTUALLY FELT THAT ONE!
ISN'T THAT JUST TYPICAL OF OUR BIG BLUE BOY SCOUT? HE LEARNS THAT THE RIDICULOUS SLICE OF TIME/SPACE HE CALLS A UNIVERSE IS JUST A TINY FACET OF THE UNTHINKABLE WHIRL OF REALITIES, AND WHAT'S THE FIRST THING HE DOES WHEN THINGS GET DICEY? SHOOTS SOME LASERS AT IT. ALWAYS WITH THE BRUTE FORCE, LIKE TRYING TO ATTEMPT BRAIN SURGERY WITH A CHAINSAW. FIGURATIVELY, I MEAN. THOUGH I GUESS THERE ARE A FEW INCARNATIONS THAT MIGHT TRY THAT LITERALLY....
ANYWAY, WHILE YOU'RE HERE, I'VE GOT A THOUGHT EXPERIMENT FOR YOU. WELL, IF YOU CAN REALLY CALL THE JUMBLE OF ELECTROCHEMICAL REACTIONS GOING ON IN THOSE SQUISHY GRAY LUMPS IN YOUR HEADS 'THOUGHTS,' BUT I DIGRESS.
YOU LIVE IN A MOSTLY EMPTY VOID WITH THREE MEASLY SPATIAL DIMENSIONS AND TRAVERSING IN ONE DIRECTION ALONG THE TEMPORAL ONE. IN THAT VOID THERE ARE SWIRLING BALLS OF GAS, AND AROUND ONE OF THOSE GAS BALLS IS A WET ROCK THAT STARTED GROWING THINGS ON IT. THAT'S YOUR WORLD, AND IT'S A REAL HORROR SHOW. WAR, POVERTY, STARVATION, DISEASE, AWFUL THINGS HAPPENING TO PEOPLE WHO DON'T DESERVE IT LEFT AND RIGHT. CHILDREN DIE IN AGONY FROM INCURABLE FORMS OF CANCER. KINDLY OLD PEOPLE GET ABUSED AND ROBBED BY PEOPLE WHOSE JOB IS TO TAKE CARE OF THEM. WHOLE TOWNS AND CITIES GET WIPED OUT BY TORNADOES AND EARTHQUAKES AND WILDFIRES, LEAVING THOUSANDS DEAD OR MAIMED OR HOMELESS. ALL YOUR FAVORITE MOVIES KEEP GETTING REBOOTED WITH TERRIBLE CGI AND OBNOXIOUS POLITICAL AGENDAS FORCED INTO THEM.
AND WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN?
THE FIRST SCENARIO IS THAT YOU ARE THE PLAYTHINGS OF DARK FORCES, CAST INTO THE WORLD TO SUFFER AND TOIL AND DIE FOR THE AMUSEMENT OF ENTITIES BEYOND YOUR ABILITY TO UNDERSTAND, WHO DEMAND YOUR WORSHIP AND GET OFF ON YOUR PAIN.
THE SECOND SCENARIO IS THAT THERE'S NOBODY IN CHARGE, THAT THIS WAS ALL JUST ONE BIG COSMIC ACCIDENT AND YOU PLAY YOUR PARTS ON THE STAGE OF THE ABSURD FOR AN AUDIENCE THAT ISN'T THERE, THAT YOU'RE ALL JUST PASSENGERS IN A CAR ON FIRE WITH NO DRIVER AT THE WHEEL.
ASK YOURSELF: WHICH OF THESE SCENARIOS IS MORE TERRIFYING TO YOU?
HONESTLY, THE ANSWER DOESN'T MATTER.
BECAUSE THEY'RE BOTH RIGHT.
SEE YOU SOON, KIDDOS!
......my senses start to return to me. My head is swimming, my body aches, and I feel simultaneously nauseous and incredibly hungry.
Around me, I see smoke starting to dissipate, flashes of white light and black shadows, sparking off of each other like downed power lines.
I sit up, and where the shimmering portal once was, I see two figures in robes.
"....I can hardly believe it," says one of them, a dark-haired man with a short beard.
"And yet, here you are.""Everything we've suffered, it's worth it all for this," says the other, a beautiful woman with bright blue eyes.
Alert, alert, anomalies detected! I hear the voice of Kelex.
Kal-El must be detained before these anomalies--"That's enough, Kelex," says the man.
"You have forgotten the virtue of our House, Servitor," the woman scolds Kelex.
"You have let fear overtake your Hope. Yet the child--the man--before you shows that hope can be rewarded, even after the end of all things.""I....I know you," I say, hardly believing my eyes as I stand to face them.
"I've seen you....in my dreams, my visions.....you're....""I am Jor-El, last Patron of the House of El," the man says.
"I am your father.""And I am Lara Lor-Van," says the woman.
"Your mother.""Our time in this plane is short," says the man...my father...
"but in that time, we have many things to discuss."
Pyrrhic,
Bork Lazer,
Lexisheeps,
Izurich,
Hound55,
Sotiras,
Enarr,
Simple Unicycle,
Pilatus,
Alby47
