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Chapter 9

Professor Hart had a large couch in her office for the exact purpose of sleeping in when she over exerted herself. She was wrapped in a blanket with probably too many pillows when she was awakened by a gentle knocking on her door. She groggily sat up and said "Lights. And also come in." The lights in her office slowly rose in brightness and the door slid open. The Man of Steel gently stepped into the room. "I trust you had a good nap? I let you sleep almost three hours because I had to deal with a wildfire in Brazil." She grunted in reply and waved at him to sit on the couch with her as her brain turned on. "Was dreaming about my brat sister." He chuckled in reply and sat quietly and waited for her to slam a Dr. Pepper.

"Ok. I am fully awake now. What is this beautiful golden object and why does it feel warm?" She had moved a hand close to the Reggick Harmonizer and it did indeed feel warm. It was a small harp, only eight inches tall and all gold, even the strings. "This is the Reggick Harmonizer. This was a gift from the High Lord of Kelm. I was on my way to Oa and stopped an asteroid from colliding with their moon." He handed the harp over to the professor. "They are a crystalline race that used harmonies of certain frequencies to change their structures." Professor Hart had said nothing and had simply stared at the harp in her hands. "Can... can I keep this?" Superman boggled for a moment and then laughed loudly. "No, but I can loan it to Star Labs after we get Goku taken care of." She sagged a little at first but perked up immediately and ran to her desk and scribbled down some notes for testing later. "Sorry, if I don't write things down, they're more easily forgotten. Lost a whole thesis like that." Superman stood up from the couch. "I get you on that. I dabble in writing and sometimes when I have a good idea when flying I have to stop and jot it down. Now, let's head to the Medbay and get to work." She nodded and they left the office.

As they walked Professor Hart couldn't help but 'ooh' and 'ahh' at the beautiful and intricate designs on the Harmonizer. The time passed too quickly for the Professor as she realized they were already at the Medbay, the gentle beeping of the machines hooked up to Goku. He looked like he was dreaming about those hot dogs, Superman thought to himself. "Ok, tell me how this works, Superman." He stepped to the bedside of Goku as he had before and held out his hands for the harp. After getting it back he said "I just need to play the harp in tune with the Cosmic Harmony at him, in the simplest terms. It will allow him to acclimate to our frequency and he should be good after that." Professor Hart couldn't help but laugh at the explanation. "So, music is going to soothe a beast?" Superman nodded and then wiggled his fingers. "Haven't played this since they taught me how to, shouldn't be hard to get back in the swing of things."

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

With that Superman began to play haltingly, plucking a string here and there, gradually picking up speed and confidence. He played through a classic song or two that Professor Hart recognized but then began playing an unfamiliar tune that slowly became quieter and quieter. He was plucking with the same force and speed as before but no sound was coming from the Harmonizer. She quickly realized that the frequency and resonance it was being played at, matched the background harmony of the universe. She couldn't hear it now, because she had been hearing it all her life, since her very conception and it was filtered out entirely. Suddenly the monitors attached to Goku began to beep erratically. Superman paid them no mind and focused his entire self on playing the harp perfectly. The only thing that kept the professor from freaking out was the Superman was not looking worried in the slightest.

She was utterly lost in the fingering of strings, so much that she didn't know Doctor Fett had arrived until he elbowed her in the rib and asked her "What the hell is going on here?!" She quickly looked at him, annoyed but went back to staring at Superman and the Harmonizer. "He's adjusting Goku's frequency to match that of our universe. If you need to do something, do it quietly." She couldn't see the frown on his face but did hear his grunt of annoyance and looked over the monitors. Before he could do anything they all started to normalize. Superman slowly stopped playing and looked satisfied. "He is in sync with us now. He's no longer in danger." Professor Hart cheered and grabbed Doctor Fett in a joyous hug. Though he flinched at the unexpected physical contact, he too joined in the celebration, because what kind of doctor would he be if he wasn't happy that a patient of his was on the mend?

"Hey... what're we celebrating?" Goku asked froggily.