Written by The-Lady-Isis

A/N: So, after swearing I wasn't going to start any new fanfictions … I'm somehow rebooting Superman. But hey, never mind! Enjoy :)

Superman Earth Pi: Part One

Chapter One

"Daddy, I don't understand," Kal said.

He was trying to sound calm, like his father was, and trying to be brave, because he knew that something really horrible was happening, and that the reason Daddy was being so calm was because he didn't want to Kal to be scared. But Kal was scared. He was scared because the ground was shaking and it was dark even though it was supposed to be daytime and Mommy had been crying ever since she'd woken him up that morning. And it was snowing, except the snow was grey and tasted funny. But mostly, he was scared because his sister was crying, and neither one of his parents were tending to her. They weren't even looking at her.

"I've explained it to you, Kal," Jor-El said patiently, his back to his son and fingers tapping all over the keyboard.

Kal went over to his baby sister, hugging her and shushing her as best as he could. It didn't really work. She gurgled for a moment, but he wasn't Mommy, so she started crying again after a minute. With a sigh, Kal put her back in her seat.

"Yeah, but … I didn't understand then either."

"Come here."

Kal stepped forward to his father's side, looking wide-eyed at the holographic, 3D display in front of him. It was a face, but not a face like he'd ever seen before. Jor-El put an arm around his shoulders.

"Kal, this is Brainiac. Do you remember me telling you about him?"

Kal nodded. Daddy had told him about a computer he was designing a few days ago, that he didn't have a name for yet. It was a really clever computer, that could do anything, so to Kal the name had been obvious. And Daddy had said that was what the computer would be called: Brainiac.

"Greetings, Kal-El," Brainiac said.

"Kal, Brainiac is going to fly this ship, look after you and your sister, and he's programmed to take orders from you, okay?"

"From me?" Kal asked. Giving a kid power over a whole ship seemed strange.

"Yes, and from your sister when she grows up enough."

"But- Daddy, where are you going to be?"

"I've told you."

"I know you and Mommy can't come with us, but why?"

"There might be something we can do here. You and your sister have to go just in case there isn't anything."

"But then won't you -" he cut that sentence off, afraid where it might go.

Jor-El knelt down in front of him, taking his hands. "Kal, you're going to have to be brave. You're going to have to be braver than you've ever been before, but I know you can do it. You're – You're far too young for me to ask this of you, but I know you'll make your mother and I proud. Look after your sister. Protect her and take care of her as best you can. Remember, if you don't know anything, just ask Brainiac, and he'll tell you the answer."

"I am programmed to help and serve you, Kal-El," Brainiac confirmed. Then he looked at Jor-El. "Diagnostics confirm all engines are now fully functional, Jor-El."

A moment later, Lara came in from outside, where she had been working on the hyperdrive. She was wiping her hands on an oily rag, and she was still crying. But not crying the way her daughter was, loudly and for attracting attention. The tears down Lara's cheeks were entirely silent. It made Kal want to cry. She went immediately to the baby, picking her up and pressing kisses to her face.

"Everything's ready," she said, voice wavering.

"You're sure?"

Lara nodded. "Yes. The engines are working perfectly. And the call just came through. We've both been ordered to help with the evacuation of the city."

Jor-El shook his head. "As if that will do any good at all. It won't just be Kandor, it'll be-"

Lara interrupted him, speaking to her son. "Kal, come here, sweetheart." He did so, noting with relief that she wasn't crying anymore. She was smiling, so he did his best to smile back. She hugged him tightly. "You and your sister are the most important things in the universe to me and your father, you know that, don't you?"

"Yes, Mommy."

"And we love you."

"Very, very much," Daddy added.

"I-I know. I love you too."

"And-"

They were interrupted by the ground shaking again. It had been trembling all day, but just faintly, just in the background. Now it was like a sleeping giant was getting up, shucking buildings like they were scales from a fish. It was more than a little bit terrifying—especially since, through the window, Kal could see the roof of the hangar falling in, collapsing into shards and sparks being thrown up when it hit the ground. Above the rumbling, there was the high-pitched wail of sirens, loud enough even to drown out his sister's screaming.

Jor-El grabbed Kal and shoved him, roughly, into a seat, buckling him in tightly. Lara stood up, her face stricken. "But-"

"They have to leave now, Lara! If they don't, they won't get far enough in time!"

Nodding, and crying again, Lara secured the baby as tightly as Kal had been strapped in—and he couldn't move his arms or legs—and then kissed her. Then she came to Kal, and kissed him. "Take care of your sister. Be brave."

Jor-El hugged him one last time. "And be strong, Kal."

"I will," Kal promised, even though there were tears falling down his cheeks and even though he really didn't want to be.

"Brainiac, take off. Get as far away from Krypton as possible. Get my children to safety."

"I acknowledge your command, Jor-El."

Then that was it; both his parents were gone, and Kal and his sister were alone. He could no longer see his parents through the viewing port; the ship was taking off, guided by Brainiac and weaving its way through the chunks of falling buildings and chasms that had opened up in the streets. He saw tiny, toy people fall into them, mushroom clouds of orange fire bloom up like awful flowers. Even his sister was silenced by the sight, her small mouth suspended, open in mid-cry. Then the nose of the ship was pointed skyward, and the engines punched into life. Both children were pummelled into their seats by the sudden acceleration, and the sky was darkening. It went from scarlet, to burgundy, to purple and then to deepest black. The fabric of it was pricked with silver points, stars that would have been benign and comforting from the safety of his own bed. Now though, they looked cold and alien. And everything was so quiet. The loudest sound was Kal's own breathing. The baby hadn't started crying again.

The quiet lasted exactly fourteen seconds.

First came the light. From behind them, blue-white illumination overtaking the stars and blotting them out. Kal twisted his head, pointlessly, knowing he couldn't see through the back of the ship but trying anyway. After the light, was the shaking. Chunks of glowing green rock suddenly started shooting past the prow of the ship, moving far faster than they were. They were being impacted from all sides, the ship shunted with the collisions. Then there was a big explosion but he didn't know from where, and then something hit him on the head, and everything went dark.


When he woke up, it was with the biggest headache he'd ever had in his entire life, and it got worse when he opened his eyes. The interior of the ship was now lit with throbbing red lighting, and his sister was once again screaming at the top of her lungs. In front of him was Brainiac's holographic face, who was stubbornly repeating his name in a monotone.

"Kal-El. Kal-El, please return to consciousness."

"I'm awake …" Kal groaned. "What – What happened?"

"The ship was hit by a large piece of meteorite, formally a piece of Krypton."

Kal shook his head, trying to piece together the bits of that which made sense. Only one part did, and it was frightening. "A-a p-piece?"

"The planet's seismic activity climaxed eleven minutes ago, exactly according to Jor-El's calculations, and Krypton was destroyed."

Kal stared at Brainiac. "… say that again?"

"Krypton has been destroyed."

For a moment, he stared between Brainiac, the still-glowing rocks going past the viewing port—slower now—and his sister. Apparently tired out from all the crying, her sobs were starting to subside, but her chubby little arms were outstretched for him, seeking comfort from somewhere. Kal went to her and unbuckled her, picking her up. She was too heavy for him to hold for long, but nothing in the world (or out of it, now) could make him let her go.

"Wh- Who else got away?" he asked Brainiac.

"Scans so far show no other intact escape craft."

"No one? What about Mommy and Daddy?"

"It was Jor-El and Lana-El's intention to remain on Krypton for as long as possible, to attempt assistance for other Kryptonian citizens. There is a zero point two per cent chance they have survived."

"Zero-"

His voice failed him again though, and a sob came out instead. It was far too much; any child would be distressed at the loss of their home or their parents; Kal had absolutely no idea how to deal with both at once. For the next ten minutes, he sat on the floor of the ship sobbing, with his sister looking at him quiet, her blue eyes wide and the wisps of her blonde hair messy, just as helpless to do anything. Dimly, he was aware of Brainiac still speaking to him, still asking for his attention, but he simply couldn't give it. Not until the baby's chubby hands reached up to touch his cheeks, clumsily wiping the tears away. He sniffed, then kissed her hands.

"Thanks, sis."

"Kal-El. There is an urgent problem requiring your attention."

He stood, putting his sister back in her chair and strapping her in. "What?"

"The hyperdrive has been rendered offline by impact with a planet meteorite, and the power coupling is seeping fluid into the main engine core."

"What does that mean?"

He swore he heard Brainiac heave an impatient sigh. "We are running out of fuel. We will not be able to go further."

"Where are we?" Kal asked, wiping his nose and trying to think straight. It helped, a bit.

"Approximately fifty light years from the remnants of Krpyton."

"What does that mean?" he asked again.

"It means the nearest planet is called 'Earth', and is the only safe landing site."

"Then land there!"

"It is impossible. The fluid leaking into the main engine core will ignite in three minutes."

"I-ignite?" He knew what that word meant, and he knew it meant something bad, but he couldn't remember exactly what.

"Set on fire. The ship will shortly explode."

"Explode?"

"Yes," Brainiac said, not sounding like he cared one way or the other. "I suggest you and your sibling go to the escape pod. I will attempt to divert the flow of fluid and prevent ignition."

Kal grabbed his sister and ran with her out of the cockpit and to the tiny escape pod. It was barely big enough for the two seats crammed in there. He put her into one of them, then strapped her in, then tried for a smile. It seemed to work; at any rate she didn't start crying again. "Don't worry," he said. "I promised I'd look after you."

When he got back to the cockpit, a thought occurred to him. "Brainiac, does Earth have people?"

"Yes. A race called 'humans'."

"Well, what about them?"

"Please clarify."

"If the ship crashes, won't they get hurt?"

A pause. "It is possible."

Kal thought hard. He was a kid. He was small. But Daddy had told him to be strong. And Mommy had told him to be brave. "Brainiac, get my sister out of here."

"There is only one escape pod."

"I-I know. Just do it. Go with her and get her to safety."

"I cannot. Doing so would act against my core programming."

"Daddy said you had to do what I tell you."

"Not at the expense of your safety."

"I'll be fine."

"The probability that you will be 'fine' is not high."

"Get my sister to safety. That's an order."

The words sounded strange on his tongue, but it seemed to work, because Brainiac nodded once. "The escape pod has been jettisoned."

"What? But I-" Kal ran to the viewing port, where he could just see a streak of gold arcing away from the main ship. It was impossible to see the baby inside. "I didn't get to say goodbye …"

"You may attempt to crash-land this ship close to her landing site."

"Let's do that then—I promised Mommy I'd look after her …"

"It is possible you will find her," Brainiac said. "But you must pilot the ship. Please, resume your seat."

Kal did, and the seat detached itself from the floor and floated up to the array of controls. It looked vastly wide, with a hundred different buttons and levers and controls and sliders and suddenly Kal was really wishing he was in that escape pod with his sister. This was a stupid idea. What did he think he could do?

"Put your hands on the steering apparatus," Brainiac instructed, two parallel sticks lighting up blue.

Kal did as he said. The sticks were way too big for his hands, and he couldn't even close his fingers around them. But he was being brave. "Now what?"

"Tilt them forward, and guide the ship towards the planet. Follow the navigation lines on the heads-up display."

Two dotted golden lines appeared on the display, guiding him at the right angle towards Earth. It was very difficult to steer anywhere inside the lines, but he managed it, after a few minutes. It was just like colouring in his holobooks, Kal told himself, it was just like staying inside the lines there. Nothing more difficult or complicated to it. Sort of. It got much more difficult when he hit the atmosphere, and all the shaking came back again, a red, then an orange, then a white-hot glow all around the ship. It hurt to look at the brightness of it.

Then there was a massive bang from the left side of the ship, and the whole thing lurched to the right. "What was that?" Kal gasped.

"The port auxiliary engine has been lost. It was damaged in the flight from Krypton."

That sounded terrifying, again, but at this point Kal wasn't listening anymore, or he'd just start crying again, and then the baby would be all on her own and he'd promised! All he knew, now, his entire world, existed between those two golden lines, and getting to the bottom of them. Go, go, go, he begged the ship. And the ship did seem to respond. Now flying at supersonic speeds above lands he couldn't see, and descending fast whether he wanted to or not, Kal's thoughts turned to landing.

"Begin pulling the levers up and towards you, slowly," Brainiac said.

Kal did so, but the ship didn't slow down, and the nose came up very, very slowly—too slowly, because there was the ground and they were going to hit it and–

For the second time that day, Kal blacked out.


Warm. And soft. And comfortable. But his head hurt. His eyes were too heavy to open them though, and it didn't seem like there was any reason to, not right away. Obviously it had been a horrible dream—where else could he but in bed?

Then a man spoke. And his voice was deep, kind, not unlike Daddy's … but was definitely not Daddy's voice. And the man wasn't speaking any language that Kal knew. When everything came back in a painful whirl of colour and chaos, Kal shot up, quite ready to burst into tears. Which is exactly what he did. Loud, shocked, terrified tears that brought the two adults running, a man and a woman.

They had kind faces, comforting body language, but unfortunately they were completely alien to Kal—literally. He scrambled away from them both, not knowing what else to do.

The woman caught the man by the arm. "Jonathan, ario. Kiij ar gun, gw'a rwrruduws!"

The man nodded, crouching down a safe distance away. He had blue trousers on, and was wearing a red-checked shirt. His expression was concerned, and he lowered his voice, softened his tone. "Ur'a akeufgr, aib. Qw'ew bir fibba gyer tiy."

"Who – Who are you?" Kal asked. "Do you know where my sister is?"

The man touched his ears, shaking his head regretfully. "U xab'r ybswearabs tiy."

Kal started to calm down a bit. It didn't seem like they were going to hurt him, and it seemed like they had the same problem. He couldn't understand what they were saying, but they were aliens, so it made sense. It also made sense that they couldn't understand what he was saying.

The woman had left them alone for a moment, but now she came back with a steaming object in her hands, which she held gently out to him. He looked at her, trying to make out whether he could trust her or not. She looked nice—nothing like Mommy, but she had blonde hair and some kind of lenses fitted into a wire frame over her blue eyes. She looked like she smiled a lot. He took the object, which turned out to be a cup of some kind. It warmed his hands. He took an experimental sniff. And it smelled nice.

"Ret ur. Tiy seubj ur," the woman said, miming drinking.

After another moment's hesitation, Kal took a sip. It was a bit too hot, but it was sweet and rich and delicious beyond anything he'd ever had before. When he grinned, both the adults smiled back.

The woman pointed to herself. "Martha." Then at the man. "Jonathan." Then she did it again, then gestured at Kal like he was supposed to be saying something.

When he didn't, the man gave a soft sigh. "Ur'a bi yaw. Gw siwab'r ybswearabs ya."

The woman cast a slightly annoyed look at him. Kal recognised that look from his parents. Did that mean these people were married, like Mommy and Daddy? He thought so. "Gw qukk," she said. "Vw oaruwbt." She touched her chest again. "Martha."

The man touched his. "Jonathan."

Understanding dawned. Those were their names. He put a hand to his own chest and said clearly, "Kal."


A/N: Translations are available for what Martha and Jonathan were saying, but I want to see if anyone can work out what they were saying first. I'll give you a hint, 'a' is the same, but can also mean 's'.

Review please!