There was not a drop of color inside. Everything was so white and sterile. It was warmer than outside though and beautiful in a way once you got past the starkness of it.
Lois rubbed some warmth into her hands with friction. Fortunately, she didn't see any signs of frostbite. "Hello?" she called, her voicing echoing off the walls.
She moved further into the icy fortress.
As if invisible hands had prepared it, there was a mug with a steaming beverage where before there was none. "That's not creepy at all," she muttered to herself as she took it. She was too chilled to the bone to worry about ghosts or people you couldn't see for the moment.
The tea did the trick. She wasn't shivering at all by the time she finished it. She set it on the table and continued her exploring. She knew someone was here now. "Hello?"
Someone was doing a good job of hiding. She gasped when she saw inside one of the smaller chambers. Her father sat on his knees in the empty room, and he was nursing a broken hand.
She ran up to him at once. "What happened? Are you okay?"
"What are you doing here?" he asked, alarmed.
"I could ask you the same thing. And how did we get here so fast? Some kind of technology the military's working on?"
"I don't have time to explain. You have to get out of here before he sees you!"
She wasn't going anywhere, but she tensed, ready to defend herself if need be. "Before who sees me?"
"Would you whisper at least? He can hear you in any room."
"You're scaring me. Is someone holding you hostage?" Her father wasn't tied up at least, but that didn't mean anything. His captor must have had some way of keeping him here, and this mysterious person had apparently broken his hand.
"Yes, he's a monster. He's not human. He's a-"
He didn't get to finish his sentence. His eyes widened, and she turned around to see the source of his horror. She was almost expecting someone part animal, hairy with two horns and fangs. The man before her looked pretty human to her. In fact, he was a very fine-looking human. But handsome looks did not mean there wasn't a monster hiding inside.
He didn't seem angry. He didn't really seem anything. He had a very neutral expression actually, but he seemed to regard her as warily as she was regarding him.
"Let him go," she said, speaking first.
"I didn't bring him here," he replied coolly.
"Then he's free to leave?"
"Not exactly. I was hospitable enough to let him in out of the cold, and he repaid me by trying to take one of my crystals."
"Your crystals?" she asked, feeling more confused by the minute.
"The crystals are filled with infinite knowledge of Krypton, far beyond your ability to comprehend. He intended to steal it and it back to your world."
What an arrogant man! She would've liked to ask what or where Krypton was, but that would just feed into his thinking that she couldn't comprehend. "My world? What are you, an alien?"
She'd thought she was being sarcastic, but he gave a quick nod. "And now he has seen me. I can't let him go back and report my location to your people. All would be lost."
She made the decision in an instant. "What if I stayed instead? I'll take his place."
"Lois, no!" Her father said, on his feet at once, despite the obvious pain he was in. "I won't let you sacrifice yourself for me!"
"Let one of your military leaders go free? What kind of fool do you take me for?"
"I'm his daughter. He wouldn't do anything to risk my life while I'm under your roof. And besides, if he were to go back with the story of an alien abduction, who would believe him?"
He stared at her for the longest time in mild surprise, considering her bargain, until she felt rather like a bug under a microscope. "Very well, I accept your offer."
Before she even had time to say goodbye, he and her father were gone as quickly as her beverage had appeared. What kind of madness was this? She assumed he had somehow taken him to the same cave they had come through, but she couldn't be sure.
She pulled out her phone, and it was as she thought, no service. She was truly alone with a beast though she couldn't shake the feeling she was being watched.