Superman closes his eyes for a moment, and sighs.
"Are you taking part in some sort of historical re-enactment? Your father expressed an interest in early Kryptonian history, but… Forty? Years ago, he was in a tiny minority."
...So Superman's costume is the equivalent of... Kryptonian Ren-fair gear?
Who knew?
"No, this is… One of the customs of the world where I grew-" Non winces, clutching his head with his right hand. "-up-. Are you okay?"
Non lowers his hand, staring-. "It happened. It-." He shakes his head. "The world.. Jor-El was studying, with the species that resembles-" He looks at me. "-us."
Yes, Earth. Good to know he knows of it from Jor-El's studies. Though I doubt Jor-El could see the kind of craziness that happens these days...
"I apologise if you thought I was kryptonian."
"It happened. Krypton-. It's gone. How many of us survived?"
Wonder if any Alt!Paul
did go for a Kryptonian rebuild? It is a
completely busted-ass combo of options, and exactly the sort of munchkinery I'd love to have tried.
"Not…" Superman's eyes dip. "Not many."
"I remember. I remember-. We told-." He winces again, slumping slightly-.
Evidently someone who didn't want the truth to be outed. Which means someone in
power.
"Don't force it. You'll get it back or you won't. Don't strain your brain right now."
"I knew that my father tried to warn people. I hadn't realised that other people did too."
If Kryptonian souls are anything like Earthlings, effectively recording a backup of our experiences, it'll come back to him.
Non nods. "He showed us the figures. When he asked me to check his work I… It was ridiculous, thinking that I could add anything to his work, but I suppose that he wanted to be completely certain before sharing it with the Science Council. After I checked them, there wasn't any doubt in my mind. I had to help. I had-."
Yeah, when the numbers check out on something
that huge, it'd take a very particular kind of person to deny them.
He bows his head.
"But it… Was all for nothing. Or-. You have a phantom zone projector, did he rescue people by sending them there?"
Likely no time to do so, even if he had people in range to transport.
Kal-El shakes his head. "Not as far as I know. We're going to parole as many prisoners as possible, they don't all deserve indefinite sentences in the Phantom Zone."
Non shudders. "No one does."
Even the mass-murderers and psychopaths?
"But apart from me, them, and my cousin Kara…"
"And Sub-Commander Karsta Wor-Ul."
Kal-El considers me for a moment. "You found her?"
And sort-of recruited her, albeit for NEMO.
"Yes, and she still doesn't want to talk to you. She could probably give Ak-Var lessons with the Doomsday, but you're out of luck."
Non looks a little hopeful. "What about the other marines?"
Eh... After this long? Prospects are not great.
"As far as I know, they're all dead. A survivor of the Timaron genocide-" Non twitches. "-who became a successful mercenary commander made a point of targetting them. If there are any others left, I haven't found them and Sub-Commander Wor-Ul doesn't know where they are."
...And that too. If any of them are left, they're keeping their heads down. Perhaps as word of the bounty being lifted spreads, they'll start to show themselves. Best not to hold out hope for it, though...
Of course, that still leaves Kandor… If Brainiac I took it. I checked its location on the drifting chunks of what used to be Krypton, but the whole area was too damaged to tell if it was stolen away or not. I don't know where Brainiac I went after abandoning Colu and… I've got enough on my plate.
As Vaermina noted, did the recording archives had no data on it? Or could the files have been damaged by the shattering of the planet...
Non nods slowly. "You mentioned… Ak-Var? I don't recognise his name."
"He was convicted of theft and sentenced to thirty years. He claims it was supposed to be a prank, and he's been an upstanding young man since we let him out."
Still seems excessive for such a small thing. Wonder if other prisoners heard about it, or got Ak-Var to open up?
"Thirty years? What did he steal?"
"A museum exhibit."
"Ah." Non nods. "That makes sense. If he were just stealing for himself he wouldn't have been sent to the Phantom Zone, but disrupting a public monument? That would do it."
The way they're talking about it, it must have been the ashes of someone important, an antique vehicle, or some great monument to
Science!
Kal-El frowns. "I thought it was just one judge being irrational. Was that sort of thing common?"
"Towards the end?" Non nods. "The Science Council cared about stability and control. Nothing else."
Ah. Making an example of him to maintain public order and keep people in lien through fear...
I grin. "In politics, if you want to know what a thing does, assume that it's the opposite of its name. So the 'Science Council' would be superstitious and hidebound, unwilling to debate or examine evidence contrary to established orthodoxy."
Non snorts. "It's as if you knew them."
That's one things Krypton and Earth has in common, it seems.
"After a while, you see a pattern. So Ak-Var didn't get thirty years for theft, he got thirty years for being a public nuisance. I'll let him know; I'm sure it will make him feel much better about the whole thing."
"You have a strange sense of humour."
If anything, Ak-Var would probably be amused - or
bemused - to know that someone thought of
him as a threat to the stability of Kryptonian society.
"You have no idea. Any questions before I… Go and get a planet ready for colonisation by Krypton's lifers?"
"Why me?" He switches his gaze between me and Kal-El. "Why now? If you didn't know that I knew your father, why am I free?"
Ah. Here's where we get to see how loyal he was to Dru-Zod, I suppose...
Kal-El and I make momentary eye contact, and I bow my head slightly to show deference to him.
"We're taking General Dru-Zod and Ursa out in a few days." Non frowns in puzzlement. "So that they can be put on trial for what they did on Timaron."
Not that Non needs to be told what that was, of course. He was
there, after all.
"Why not me? I was involved in that too. And in the attempted coup."
"Because you were brain damaged. You obviously weren't in your right mind, so it wouldn't be right to hold you to the same level of responsibility. But that got me thinking about what to do about the other prisoners."
Well, OL kind of poked you about it as well. I doubt
Clark would have thought of parole on an off-world colony.
"Ah. And… This planet we're on now. It has a main sequence star? I was expecting to feel… Stronger."
"It does, but we prefer to get to know people a little better before letter them get superstrength."
Best to keep the kryptonite thing under your hat for now, until you're sure he's safe to trust.
"That is commendably sensible. Do you have an archive I could look through? Something covering the small amount of Krypton's history I missed? And this… New world you intend for us to settle on?"
"Yes, of course. And I'd like to hearing your opinion on the people we're going to release."
...Though at some point, he'll probably find out about the variations. All of the parolees will have to know about them, if only for their safety.
"Faora Hu-Ul would try to murder the men, and Jax-Ur would try to murder everyone. Other than that, you may as well release everyone. None of their crimes relate to anything that would matter on a new colony."
"Speaking of which, I should go an make a new survey of the place and work out where the best place to start is." I look at Kal-El. "Unless you need me for anything else?"
A good word for everyone but those two, and I'm sure they'll check each person as they bring them out.
"No. And thank you. That was a good idea."
"I do have them occasionally." I raise my right hand to my forehead and
step out. Devlos Ungol's deviant desires are easy to feel and follow, even after all this time. I
Man, that Desire postcognition scrying thing has become a very handy improvement to his greediport. No more need for an
active desire network to lock onto, just strong imprints of old desires...
appear above Tartarath's atmosphere, and give the place a scan.
This is going to take a while.
I'm guessing 'radioactive cinder' is being
charitable for some parts of the surface...
Then again, they've hardly used 'Non' around him after he started talking, and they've had more important things to discuss. Perhaps at some off-screen point, he'll remember. For now, let's see what OL thinks of their prospective Kryptonian colony...
