Chapter 10 – Replicant

Comment: This ought to blow your mind.

Scene: The Kent Farm

Early Sunday night, Clark and Kara were cleaning up the barn loft. Lois had called a few minutes earlier, but Clark had ignored it. Kara cast him a sideways glance. "Kal, why don't you answer? I thought that you liked Lois, a lot." She needled her cousin.

"I know Kara, but Lois and I, we're like fire and ice. We just don't mix well." Clark admitted. "Oh?" Kara smirked. "Don't you trust her?" Clark gulped. His fast learning cousin had hit it right on the head. "Yeah, I trust her…somewhat. I just don't want to get involved with anyone right now. Until I can nail this double identity thing down, I can't risk hurting her."

"I think you're chicken." Kara chuckled. "What?" Clark's mouth dropped open. "I don't see you getting involved with anyone." He countered. "True, but I'm just waiting for the right guy to come along. Still, I'm more interested in locating Kandor. If there's even a chance that the rumors are true, I have to follow up on it."

"Dax Ur's journals, once we have them all, ought to lead us right to the Kandor module." Kara explained further. "I know for a fact that Jor El and Zor El were working on a way to save our entire civilization, but they ran out of time, thanks to BRAINIAC turning against them."

"It's still a shot in the dark." Clark commented. "Yes, but it's the only one we have. Can we just go up to the Fortress and see if Jor El left any information on the Kandor project?" Kara half pleaded. "Fine." Clark sighed. "We'll take the crystals, and assuming I can get the Fortress up and running, I might just as well start on Jor El's training."

"Training? For what?" Kara's big blue eyes widened. "Jor El claims that I'm supposed to be endowed with the knowledge of the universe in order to save Earth." Clark repeated the exact phrasing Jor El had last used before the Fortress went dark.

"The knowledge of the universe?" Kara parroted. "Isn't that a bit much to take on, Kal?" Clark nodded. "I suppose Jor El could more or less download all of Krypton's knowledge into me somehow, so that I would be the last living link to our parents' heritage. Unless you want to learn all that?" He hinted as Kara shook her head, her lengthy ponytail swayed in the breeze.

"No, I think that I should concentrate on Kandor. Knowledge is one thing, but our people are just as important, if the experiment had even succeeded." The bright young alien stated resolutely. "Dax Ur seems to think that Jor El and Zor El had gotten pretty far along with it."

"Maybe Jor El can tell us more about it." Clark guessed. "I wouldn't get my hopes up, though, Kara. Jor El can be more stubborn than a human at times." Kara nodded as she finished baling the hay for their horses, easily tossing a few bales into the feeder.

"After dinner, we'll start out, but remember, I have to be at work at the Daily Planet tomorrow morning." Clark said as he flipped off the barn loft lights. "If someone around here could fly, we'd be there in moments." Kara taunted good-naturedly.
Clark grinned. "Yes, Kara." The teen alien beauty shrugged. "You never know until you try." She teased, and sauntered out of the barn and zipped back into the house to feed Shelby/Krypto. Clark sighed. Kara had a point. I could help more people if I could get there faster. He mused.

Later in the evening, just after sunset, the two super beings prepared to head up to the Fortress near the North Pole. Clark watched as Kara soared up into the clouds. "I really need to get that flying thing nailed down." He muttered as he sped off towards the Fortress of Solitude, crystals in hand. In minutes, Clark arrived at the darkened Kryptonian stronghold.

Kara sat patiently upon an ice sculpture near the crystal control panel. Her white t-shirt had been singed, leaving a dark and filthy mess on her pristine abdomen. The cold wouldn't really affect either alien, as long as they were at full strength.

"What happened to you?" Clark glanced at his cousin with a bemused smile. "Oh, I got too close to the Aurora Borealis and got my shirt zapped by some electromagnetic energy." Kara explained. Clark shook his head. "Be more careful, will you?"

The fortress was still dark. The ice crystals seemed to alternate between white, gray, black, and silver. Clark hoped that meant that the fortress was still operational. "Here goes." Clark began, and jammed the purplish crystal shard into a slot. The fortress whirred to life.

"Let's hope Jor El is still on line, so to speak, and that his program hasn't been corrupted." He said as he pocketed Kara's blue crystal, and his pink one. "Jor El? Are you there?" Clark began loudly, though he felt silly doing so. "Kara and I have some questions."

The murmured voice of Jor El mumbled something that would only be intelligible to a sensitive Kryptonian ear. "Louder, Uncle Jor El." Kara ordered. "Why have you returned, Kal El?" Jor El's voice boomed, making Kara cover her ears.

"We have some questions relating to Kandor." Clark announced. "Kandor is off limits, Kal El. It was a failed experiment." Jor El responded. Kara's heart sank as her hope was crushed. "Kara believes that the experiment succeeded. We have some partial information from Dax Ur."

Jor El went silent. Clark watched Kara as the teen superhero glanced away, obviously upset by this revelation. "Dax Ur was a good friend of mine." Jor El's computerized voice sounded almost wistful. "His research on Earth was instrumental in paving the way for your arrival."

"He paid for that with his life." Clark snapped at Jor El's disembodied voice. "Many have sacrificed themselves willingly for your life, Kal El. All honorable Kryptonians would gladly do the same again." Jor El concluded.

"Why?" Clark retorted. "What was the point of all this carnage?" Jor El took a moment to gather his response. "Because you were chosen to be the repository of the sum of all Krypton's knowledge. On Earth, you would stand the best chance of survival."

"I understand that, Jor El." Clark sighed patiently. "What does this have to do with Kandor?" Again Jor El was silent, as if some information had been erased. "Zor El decided that he would attempt to save Kandor, a smaller population than the main home world of Krypton."
"Let me guess, Uncle Zor El's idea was rejected by the Council of Elders." Clark postulated sourly. "Yes, completely. Dax Ur and I co-opted Zor El's research and verified that it could actually be possible to miniaturize Kandor into a type of sub-universe." Jor El confirmed.

Kara's face brightened. "Dax Ur, Raya, and I took it upon ourselves to design the Kandor capsule and shrink it down to a subatomic level." Jor El continued. "However, the Council also rejected my pleas, and BRAINIAC agreed with them, thereby dooming both Kandor and Krypton to extinction. I never found out if the experiment succeeded."

Kara folded her arms. "So we still don't know one way or the other, Uncle Jor El." The fortress vibrated, and a full length, life size image of Jor El appeared, shocking both Clark and Kara. "My son, it is good to see you." Jor El's image spoke as Clark backed away, and Kara slipped on the ice, falling onto her backside.

"What? How can you see me?" Clark stuttered. Jor El looked very similar to Clark, but with graying hair and grayish white sideburns along his temples, and was quite a bit stockier than Clark. "I can see a computer generated rendition of you, just as you appear today."

"Are you truly dead, Uncle?" Kara stood back up before asking the question. "I'm not sure, Kara. I also have a rendition of you on your sixteenth birthday. I'm sorry we never got to know each other better." Jor El simulated walking towards Clark. He could almost feel his father's presence.

"What I actually am now is a Replicant of Jor El." The image appeared to put its hands behind its back. "Jor El's consciousness, his soul, to use common earth terminology, is embodied within this fortress, and by default, embodied in me."

Jor El's Replicant raised his arms, and the fortress was bathed in brilliant bluish white light again. "You can control the fortress?" Clark finally bit out. "Yes, to some degree. As long as we have the proper crystals, the fortress can be powered indefinitely. Its energy source is even too complicated for me to explain." The image admitted.

A chamber suddenly lit up beside Clark. It flashed a pinkish purple light, and finally settled on a lavender color. "What's that?" Clark stepped just beyond the chamber. "It's the Chamber of Knowledge, Kal El. Think of it as a high speed download, to use common Earth terms."

"The knowledge you are required to learn is substantial." Jor El's Replicant appeared to be walking in between he and Kara. "Lois Lane?" Jor El's image suddenly stopped. "Huh?" Clark was immediately suspicious. "How do you know Lois?"

"I don't." Jor El's image said. "But you do. Part of the Chamber of Knowledge technology was based on a system that Zor El and I developed together to read thoughts. It's like a lie detector, in human terms. You believe you love her, Kal El." Clark ignored Jor El's commentary.

Kara gulped. Had her recent encounters with the crystals somehow transferred this thought reading ability to her brain? Clark flashed the Replicant a dirty look, yet didn't deny its assertion.

"What kind of knowledge is deposited in it?" Clark edged towards the chamber. "All of Krypton's history, and the sum of all knowledge of the universe that Kryptonian scientists had accumulated." Jor El responded smoothly, as if he'd been waiting for that question.

"Give it a try, Kal El." Jor El tempted. "I don't know. How long does it take?" Clark circled the chamber. "That depends on how much knowledge you wish to accumulate." Jor El's answer was predictably vague. The hairs on Kara's neck began to stand up. Something wasn't right.

"Kal El, don't!" Kara shrieked. "What?" Clark turned and the Replicant shoved him into the chamber. At first, Clark's eyes closed in a painful looking wince. The chamber was flooded with pink, purple, lavender, and red light. Kara lunged for the Replicant, but it simply faded out as her body passed through it.

"Relax Kara, Kal El is fine." The Replicant reassured her. "The Chamber of Knowledge is an extremely powerful experience, even for a Kryptonian." Kara growled. "Jor El! Whatever you are, get Kal El out of there immediately, or I swear I'll tear out every circuit you have!"

"That wouldn't be wise, young Kara." Jor El's Replicant had adopted a decidedly nasty tone. "Besides, Kal El is free to leave it at any time." Kara rushed over to Clark, and noted that his eyes were glassy, and his motion ceased. "Kal El? Can you hear me?" She yelled as Jor El faded out.

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