Lois put her faith in Superman.
“If he said he can do it,” she said, “he’ll do it.”
“And what happens then?” Hardy asked. “Wasn’t he exposed to the same energies as the rest of them on their way to Earth? We open up this Phantom Zone thing… won’t he be pulled back with them?”
That ghastly possibility had already crossed her mind.
“I don’t know, Colonel. But it wouldn’t be the first time he’s risked his life for us.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Empty creches budded as the Genesis Chamber came online. Zod’s patriotic heart filled with pride as he envisioned a new generation of Kryptonians spreading forth from this Arctic fortress to claim a virgin world.
“You should thank me, Jor-El,” he gloated. “You dreamt of rebuilding Krypton. I’m making that dream a reality.”
The hologram disagreed.
“You’re perverting the dream,” it said. “Our people can coexist with them.”
“Why should we?” Zod countered. “So we can suffer through years of pain, trying to adapt like your son has?” He scoffed at so dismal a future. “That’s not existing. I want to breathe the air of Krypton again. I want to feel the solid weight of our world beneath my feet.”
Jor-El’s hologram reacted with predictable self-righteousness.
“You’re talking about genocide!”
“Yes,” Zod answered without regret or apology. He started to justify his agenda, but realized how pointless that would be. “And I’m arguing its merits with a ghost.”
“We’re both ghosts, Zod. Don’t you see that? The Krypton you keep clinging to is gone. It failed… just as your desperate actions will.”
Despite himself, Zod was shaken by the hologram’s dire prophecy. He wanted to concentrate on the future, not dwell on the events of the past. Things would be different this time, on this world. No matter what this annoying simulacrum said.
“Ship,” he said, raising his voice. “Have you managed to quarantine this invasive intelligence?”
The scout ship’s computer, now slaved to his control, responded promptly.
“Yes, sir.”
He made a mental note to reprogram the computer to address him by his proper rank of general.
“Prepare to terminate it.” He cast a contemptuous look at all that was left of Jor-El. “I’m tired of this debate.”
The hologram seemed undaunted by the threat of deletion. He shook his head reproachfully.
“Silencing me won’t change anything,” it responded. “My son is twice the man you were. And he will finish what we started. I promise you that.”
Zod’s temper flared. How dare this bodiless apparition compare a true Kryptonian patriot—genetically crafted to defend and preserve their people—to a misbegotten traitor who should have never been conceived?
“Tell me,” he said with deliberate malice. “You have Jor-El’s memories, his emotions. Can you experience his pain?”
The hologram’s silence spoke volumes.
“I will harvest the Codex from your son’s corpse,” Zod promised, wielding his words as a weapon. He twisted the knife as he had back on Krypton, when he had killed Jor-El the first time. “And I will rebuild Krypton atop his bones.”
Then he slammed his command key all the way into the central control port, asserting his authority over the scout ship and its systems. The computer purged the rogue A.I. from its memory banks, causing the image to abruptly dematerialize. Zod savored the sight of “Jor-El” dissolving into random photons before blinking out entirely.
This time around, he experienced no regret at executing his old friend.
Perhaps killing Jor-El gets easier with practice.
Turning away from the Genesis Chamber, he strode onto the bridge. Ice melted away from a frosted viewport, allowing him a clear look at the frigid wastes outside. A pilot’s seat descended from the ceiling and he took his place before the navigational controls. He had found what he sought, and exorcised Jor-El’s hectoring spirit once and for all, so he saw no further reason to tarry in this desolate wilderness.
Unlike Kal-El, he did not intend to hide from humanity.
He fired up the dormant engines. Thrusters on the underside of the scout ship flared brightly as it tore itself loose from the mountaintop. An avalanche thundered down the rugged slopes as he took to the air.
Zod set a course for Metropolis.
Exerting all his strength, Superman broke free from the World Engine’s crushing grip. He zoomed in a corkscrew pattern around the massive machine, taking evasive action to avoid the flailing tentacles. He mentally kicked himself for not anticipating the Engine’s attack.
I should have known this thing would put up a fight.
Despite its size, the Engine was faster than it looked. A tendril whipped out, snaring Superman in its punishing coils. Energized matter jolted him as the machine flung him beneath its belly, directly into the gravity column.
The overpowering force slammed him down onto the exposed bedrock of the island, pinning him to the Earth with wave after wave of g-force. The weight and pressure were so intense that he could barely lift his head, let alone fly. Was this what the gravity on Krypton had been like? Small wonder he felt light as air on Earth.
Until now.
The C-17 circled the Black Zero, unable to get close enough to deliver its unearthly payload. Indeed, as the energy fluctuations intensified, they were forced to widen their circle, taking them further and further from their objective.
The remaining F-35s stubbornly engaged the levitating spaceship, but to no effect. Their guns and missiles couldn’t get past the distortions that were surrounding Zod’s ship.
Hardy barked into the radio urgently.
“NORTHCOM, this is Guardian. Any word on that gravity field being taken out?”
“Negative, Guardian,” Swanwick reported. “Return to Alpha hold-point. Keep circling.”
But for how long? Lois wondered. Buckled into her jump-seat, she toyed anxiously with the Kryptonian command key. The symbol on its head caught her eye and she clung to its true meaning with all her heart.
“Come on, Kal,” she whispered. “You said it wasn’t an ‘S’.”
There had to be hope, as long as Superman was still alive.
Perry was breathing heavily by the time he and the others reached the ground floor of the Daily Planet building. He ushered the staff out of the lobby and onto the street, where the shimmering column could be seen advancing like a tidal wave.
Parked vehicles, streetlamps, fire hydrants, and news kiosks were flattened beneath the oncoming wall of gravity. Debris was everywhere. Neighboring buildings and parking garages were leveled. A vacant city bus was compacted to a paper-thin sheet of metal.
“Keep moving!” he shouted. “RUN!”
Up in the sky, a daring jet fighter banked too closely to the alien ship’s protective halo. Snared by a pulsing wave of gravity, it spun out of control and crashed into a nearby office building. Shattered masonry and flaming wreckage rained down on the streets and sidewalk, hitting the pavement like missiles.
The impact knocked Perry to the curb, but he scrambled to his feet and sprinted away from the crumbling building. Powdered stone and ash dusted his face and clothing. Lombard pulled out ahead of him as Perry tried to take a quick mental inventory of his people, who were scattering in disarray.
“Everyone okay?”
The widening column was hot on their heels. He heard steel and concrete being crushed to bits behind them. Looming high above their heads, the coruscating wall of gravity was bulldozing its way across Metropolis, razing the entire city to the ground.