Once I got over the initial fear of the raised timetable, being able to freely talk about the situation with my family was…exhilarating. Truth be told, I may have gotten a tad carried away at the start. Asking questions at such a rapid clip that even they had to take a moment to parse them.

But could anyone blame me? I had spent so damned long alone, any knowledge I had managed to scrounge together had been like wringing water from a stone. And here my family stood, with what felt like all the answers. They had the chance to analyze the problem for a full year, whereas I had only known about it for a little under twenty-four hours.

Not having to work for my information was an intoxicating feeling.

Until it wasn't, of course.

“From the samples we managed to take, the metals in the inner core have already been fully converted to radioactive isotopes. Atomically heavier metals like lead were the first to make the transition in energy states, then cobalt, then iron, and so on. Only six percent of the inner core is still stable.”

I frowned at the screen as Jor walked me through their grim findings.

“At this point, the reaction cannot be stopped.”

I inhaled sharply. “But-,” I floundered for anything to say. “-surely there has to be something we can try.” I tried.

“If it were just the inner core, then yes, it would be quite manageable. But it's not.” He swiped the feed down, “The sunstone dense outer core is acting like a neutron reflector,” Jor shook his head angrily. “Anything we could do just wouldn't be fast enough to counteract the effect. At best, we could slow it down, but the reaction is too far gone now to make any meaningful impact.”

“So there’s nothing to do?” I asked softly. Some part of me had always feared that was the case, but I had held out hope that Krypton could still be salvaged.

“No. Maybe if we had spotted it earlier…” He trailed off wistfully.

It felt like ice water was injected into my veins. “How-” I had to clear my suddenly parched throat. “-how early?” I didn't want to ask, but I needed to know. My heart felt like it was trying to punch through my chest with how hard it was beating.

He hemmed and hawed for a moment, thinking it over, the seconds felt like they dragged on forever. “Ninety years? Give or take a decade?”

If I hadn't already been sitting, I was certain my legs would have given out entirely. It wasn't my fault. Even if I had told them the moment I could talk in complete sentences, the planet would have blown up regardless. Though my conscience was now clear in regards to the planet's fate, it wasn't so in regards to the people. An extra decade would have undoubtedly helped whatever exodus plan we came up with tremendously. But I still stood by my decision, running to them too early without any proof to back up my wild claims held too high a chance of damning everyone.

Maybe they would have believed me and looked into the matter, maybe they would have found it too. Or maybe, they wouldn't have found it. Leaving just me to look into it. At least my silence would ensure that at least someone found proof.

It all rang so very hollow now, so close to the end, but what choice did I have, but to cling to it?

There was something that bothered me about what I had learned. “Okay.” I breathed out slowly, not letting my mind wander. “So, I can at least somewhat understand why no one had made the connection with the Clone Wars. But how did no one catch the radiation build up? Especially the Sentinel programs, there's no way something like this should have gone unnoticed. Anyone with half a brain, let alone a supercomputer, should have easily seen the writing on the wall!”

“We’re not sure,” Dad said slowly. “But, we do have a theory on how the Sentinels missed it at the very least. It’s far fetched and we have no real proof, but it's the only thing that makes any sense. During the Clone War, there were confirmed cases of clones successfully replacing their progenitors, these infiltrators were instrumental in the Clone War being as protracted as it was. Both during and after the War there were many programs put into place to root them out, and reportedly they were rather effective. But nothing is ever perfect and some few may have slipped through cracks. From there it wouldn't be impossible for a few of them to gain access to the Sentinels back then, and with the full knowledge of what their beam had actually done…” He trailed leadingly, looking at me expectantly.

“You think they modified the Sentinels to see the radiation as normal.” I could see it, I guess. It wasn't anywhere close to being watertight, but it was at least viable. With security being so tight so soon after the war, any survivors wouldn't have had a reasonable shot at getting what they needed to build another weapon. But rigging it so no one noticed the effects of the first beam… that was well within the realms of possibility.

“Them, or perhaps their children down the line.” Lara shrugged.

I nodded, I hadn't even thought of the children. Though now that it was brought up, I couldn't help but wonder if these hypothetical clone Houses knew of their origins. It had been twenty thousand years after all. Would they still hate us for what we did to their ancestors? I couldn't imagine so, after so long, if they still wanted vengeance, they could have easily created another doomsday weapon once the heat had died down enough. No, it was much more likely that their origins had either been lost to time, or they had integrated enough into society that they simply didn't care anymore.

“Zod must have had a conniption at the thought of that many unknown security risks running about.” I couldn't help but chuckle.

“We didn't tell him.” Dad said.

My amusement ended abruptly. “You didn't tell him about the possible clone theory?” I asked, confused.

“No? We didn't tell him about any of it.” It was Jors turn to sound confused now.

“What?” I must have misheard him. Because for a second there I thought he said-

“Zod doesn't know anything about the core.” Dad clarified.

“What do you mean you haven't told Zod about the core?” I hissed at Dad in shock. I could at least distantly understand leaving me in the dark, but Zod? No way.

“You went to the Council before Zod.” I shook my head in utter disbelief. “No, you went to the Council without Zod.” I couldn't make up my mind on which was worse.

How could they be so stupid? I was completely dumbfounded. Zod was their biggest asset here. If the head of the Science Council and the Head of the Military made the case, the Ruling Council couldn't have dismissed them nearly so easily, if at all.

Dad at least had the decency to cringe away from my accusing stare. “You know how Zod is, the chance of him turning this into a slugging match with the council is too high.”

“What?!” I pulled my hair in frustration, spinning away from Dad and towards Jor. “You guys can’t be serious right now, you know Zod, he isn't some dumb brute!”

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Jor closed his eyes and sighed before responding, “You’re right Kara, I do know Zod. You on the other hand don’t.” He held an open palm out, already anticipating my indignant response. “Zod isn’t stupid, in fact, he is one of the most intelligent men I’ve ever met. But he was born to fight, it’s in his blood, figuratively and literally. He isn’t just a Soldier, he is The Soldier, the very pinnacle of the Soldier Caste. Both the mods and the training given to his House are… extreme, even for the Soldier Caste. Every single instinct he has, both learned and innate, are geared towards fighting to protect Krypton.”

“How do you think such a man would react when told the planet is doomed and the Council is refusing to see reason?”

“He is more than his birth.” I protested.

“Is he?” Jor tilted his head at me consideringly before nodding slowly as if coming to a realization, an almost sad smile across his face. “Tell me, Kara, have you ever tried to stop thinking? To just turn your brain off? And I don't mean when you're exhausted, I mean making a truly conscious effort of not thinking? Just sitting at the dinner table and focusing entirely on your food without even the thought of whatever you're working on coming up in the back of your mind.”

“What?” I scrunched my face at the seemingly random and stupid question.

“Just humor me.”

“Of course I have.”

“When?” He challenged.

“I-, when I-,” I faltered. Searching for a memory that matched that criteria. Getting more frantic when I couldn't immediately find one from this life. My face screwed up as I started panicking.

“And that, Kara, is why we didn't tell Zod. We are designed to think. He is designed to fight.”

I was still reeling from my own realization. I had always known that the mods affected my mind to some degree, but never had I thought it would have held so much sway in my life. And I hadn't even realized it. Why would I even suspect anything was off? With the fate of a world on my shoulders, what else could I do but work until I dropped? Was that me, or the compulsions talking? How would I even-

No. I thought firmly. None of that mattered, the how’s and the why’s of it all was pointless. It happened, was currently happening. Having my very autonomy be put into question was distressing to say the least, but it was something I had lived with for a decade. It wasn't killing me, and I had much more immediate concerns to address standing right in front of me.

I grit my teeth, pushing everything away so I could keep going. “But it’s Zod, we can't just-!” I threw my hands up in anger, making a sound in my throat. I didn't even know what to think at the moment, let alone what to say.

“I know, Kara.” Jor said softly, “But we can’t risk it. A war with the council would be devastating. Production and supply chains would get disrupted until the fighting stopped. And for however long the conflict lasted we would be unable to-”

“Unable to what?” I cut him off, sharply. “Work alone and leave everyone else to die?” The hypocrisy of my own words wasn't lost on me, and only served to make my blood run hotter. “On your own you've accomplished so much, with Zod’s backing, imagine what you could do?! We could take it public, have the entirety of the Science Caste working towards a solution!”

Yes, I’d been running on almost the same exact logic as them for the last nine years, but at least I had the excuse of not having any proof. We had the proof now, to not do anything with it was beyond thinking about.

“You think that this is what we want to do?!” Jor snarled. “That I don't want to trust my lifelong friend!?” His anger bled away to reveal a glimpse at the tired, bone-weary man beneath. He continued, his tone no longer holding any of the previous bite, just a grim edge honed by frustrated exhaustion. “We’ve ran the predictive models, Kara. Over and over, for months. The chance of Zod resolving this peacefully are in the single digits. And the odds of him actually winning those conflicts never go higher than twenty percent. We have ran every permutation we can think of, and this is the best option.”

“Predictive models?! Life isn't a simulation! You have more faith in a computer than your friend?!”

“Yes.” His reply was so immediate, so unwavering, I stepped back.

“You don't mean that.” I whispered, begging him with my eyes.

“Yes, I do.” He frowned.

“Alright, you two. I know this is a hard topic, but let's all just calm-” Dad stepped up to me, placing a hand on my shoulder.

I spun out of his grip, staring at him with new eyes. “You agree with him.” I glanced at Lara, “You all agree with this…this madness?” I spat out the last word.

They had a true genuine shot at saving ten billion souls, and they wouldn’t take it because an upjumped calculator said so? How could they be so cold?

“And what would you have us do instead, Kara?” Lara spoke softly from across the room, still leaning on the same table.

“Try! You can't just give up and write everyone off, just because some stupid simulation said it would be hard! The core is lost? Fine! But the people? We can still save them!”

“If you can’t have faith in Zod, fine. Then have faith in me. This is the right plan. Please. Don't ask me to just give up on everyone.” I stared at Dad with wide watering eyes, “Please.” My voice warbled from the sheer desperation.

He clenched his jaw, his eyes darted rapidly across my face, and his stoic facade began to crack, “I-”

“No.” Jor spoke firmly, but with a pained expression on his face. “You cannot tell Zod. I will not allow you to damn our family to oblivion on nothing but hope and the naivety of youth. We have one shot at salvation, Kara. One. I will not see it so easily squandered. We will talk and you will listen.” He shook his head sadly. “Kelex, lockdown Lab Se- mmphh!” A silver blob had shot across the distance and clamped itself to his face. Two more blobs broke off the first and slapped themselves onto Dad’s and Lara’s faces.

“Go Kara!” Penny’s voice rang out over their muffled shouts of alarm.

I froze for a moment in shock. Then bolted for elevators. “Landing Pad!” I shouted at the air. I was back in my shuttle and strapping myself into the seat in what felt like moments. The adrenaline and shock making everything a blur and my hands shake.

“General Dru-Zod’s house.” I barked at the ship AI. Only to shake my head in agitation, when it began going through the safety checks. Taking manual control, I shoved the throttle forward. Shooting off the landing pad in a shower of sparks and roaring up into the sky. The onboard AI dutifully informing me of all the regulations I had just broken.

I ignored it, pointing the ship at the waypoint on the other side of the city, pushing the throttle harder. Trying to get as close as I could before-

“Damnit!” I muttered, hitting the control panel in frustration when I suddenly lost control of the ship. It slowed to a stop, turning around and began flying itself back to our home. I had thought I would have had more time than that.

‘They better not have hurt Penny.’

Jumping out of the cockpit, I ran to the emergency pods. Scowling harder when all of them refused to open at my request.

“Kara, I know this is difficult, but please-” Jor’s voice sprouted from the intercom.

“Stupid, Jor.” I growled to myself as I ran back to the cockpit, sitting down in the chair and pressing a recessed button under the seat.

I sighed in relief when the wave of smart matter actually deployed. In a fraction of a second, I was wrapped and sealed into an extremely barebones but functional spacesuit. The Emergency Survival Suit, or ESS for short, was standard in all space-faring vessels. A full life support suite, air and water reclamation, maneuvering thrusters, mag boots and gloves, everything a spacer could want in an emergency situation really.

“Kara? What are you doing? I’m not gonna depressurize the cabin.” He sounded vaguely offended.

I actually had to pause at that, I hadn't even considered that to be honest, that was a rather foolish thing to overlook. Shaking my head, I continued towards the back of the ship, to the exit ramp.

“Kara? What are you doing?” Dad asked suspiciously.

I considered answering, but I didn't want to risk them somehow being able to interfere. With a quick gesture and finger tap, the mag gloves reversed the magnetic interlocks holding the maintenance panel in place.

I heard someone gasp over the comms. Someone had figured it out, too little too late though. “Kara-El, don't you dare-” Lara barked, like only a worried-to-death mother could. It made me smile fondly, but it didn't stop me in the slightest.

Blowing the exit ramp by manually detonating the emergency bolts had been the easy part. Psyching myself up enough to jump out of a perfectly good aircraft at fifteen thousand feet, now that was a surprisingly harder task.

Turning towards the camera above the door I spoke, trusting the microphones to pick out my voice over the howling winds. “You all may have abandoned hope, but I haven't.”

Taking one last breath of the suit's filtered air, I stepped out into the open purple-hued sky above Kandor.