Chapter 2: Birthright part 2
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-Jor-EL & Lara Lor-VAN-
-Citadel of EL-
-3 cycles after Phantom Zone incident-
...
Jor was perplexed.
One of the many automated drones he sent through the universe (Well, only 28 Galaxies for now), came back from one small galaxy with a copious amount of unusual data and cargo. Something in that galaxy was generating an insane amount of dark energy. What was really strange; There wasn't that much gravitational force. It wasn't tearing said galaxy apart. And by the Void, it looked even stable!
How? It may have to do with the cargo. Forty two million cubic meters of exotic matter. Why only 42? He'll never know.
With the help of the girls, Kara, Thara and indigo, he started moving some of the cargo to his lab. As they started analysing the rare material, Lara entered the workshop. The pregnant woman approached the group and asked.
"May I look at what you've discovered about the material?"
"Of course, but be careful around the lab. We still have no idea of what effect it can have on living tissues." Warned Jor-El.
"Fascinating! It seems to release dark energy when subjected to an electrical current." Said an excited Indigo.
"Yes! The energy level required is infinitesimal compared to our own anti-Grav engines." said Kara. She was as thrilled as the others.
"A positive current increases mass, a negative current decreases it. Interesting alternative to our own technology, cheaper too, much cheaper." Jor said, as he read the data of the testing chamber. The dark energy released can be manipulated into a mass effect field, raising or lowering the mass of all objects within that field. Coupled with our own tech the possibilities are endless. And do not let me start with sunstone crystals." Jor told them.
Surprised, Lara asked. "The vaults did have some?"
"Oh yes! They did. And not just a little."
"Tell me!" said Lara, moving so fast that poor Thara squeaked as she was blown away like a dust particle.
"Here, let me show you." Approaching one of the walls, secret compartments started to open. Liquid-Geo began to rise from the ground to create a large table. Four boxes slowly eject from the compartments then glide to the work table. Three boxes of medium sizes and one the size of Lara's hand. Jor starts with the three boxes. Each one of them holds three crystals the size of her forearm. She takes one and brings it to her eyes, it's much heavier than it looks.
"Careful, love." Jor warned her. "These are geo-formers, small continental scales. They can take the properties of minerals and other forms of matter around them." Jor stated. "Fortunately or not, depending on the point of view, the crystals only become active when solid or liquid water is present. It can be pre-programmed before deployment, to become nearly anything."
"And this box?" She asked, pointing to the small one.
"This!" Jor opened the little box, showing two crystals, one as long as the size of her palm and thin as her index finger and clear blue, the other is a much darker blue, so small barely the thickness of her pinkie and as long as two of its phalanges. "The big one is a deployable World-Fortress class, Exodus type outpost. Science and engineering lab, heavy duty quantum fabricators and an atomic cauldron."
"Defensive weapon's platforms who can take down Celestials out of the sky, planetary shieldings capable of repelling Galactus, esoteric and cyberwarfare countermeasures, even against extra-dimensional threats. A quantum-field transmission data-center, 20 kilo-parsecs range sensors, hangars and launch bays for ground, air and space vehicles and said vehicles already stored within its tesseract, and it has enough material stored within it to fill a really BIG moon."
"Transmat system for long-range matter transmission, regeneration chambers, living quarters for both personnel and nearly half a million possible refugees, and even an interplanetary habitat for exotic and endangered creatures."
Lara's bulging eyes are all Jor-El needed to make his day.
"Wha-" Is everything Lara can say.
"And I didn't even begin to tinker with it."
"Wha-" She stopped. "I have faith in you Lara."
"Do you want to help me see what we can upgrade and-" "YES!" Lara shouted.
"Good so I was thinking about-" Lara cuts him.
"Wait. What about the smaller one?" At that innocent question Jor cringed.
"And here I was hoping you could forget about that…'' A suddenly tired Jor said.
"Jor? What's wrong?" Lara asked after gently grabbing his arm. "Jor-El, what did you find?" Lara demanded. Jor-El sighed, why could his ancestors have been pacifists?
This is the kind of problem he had been dealing with non-stop since he opened the Vaults… The kind to be small enough to fit in your hand and end whole civilisations. He would have preferred dealing with an Infinity Stone, at least those ones didn't have a mind and will of their own... Most of the time... "RAO give me strength."
"It's a…" Jor took a deep breath. This is going to be a long discussion. "An experimental Nano-crystal." Jor said, looking at the little dark crystal.
"It doesn't look like much." Lara said as her hand went for the box only to be stopped by Jor.
"Don't!" She can feel his fear in his voice and thoughts, she retracted her hand, and let him continue. "Do you remember the legend of the Unmaker?" She nodded to his question.
"Yes, the old machine who started to act strangely after only two billion years of service? The one your family had to put down?"
"Yep… That one. That," He pointed to the crystal, "is what is left of it…" her eyes widened.
"In that little thing?"
"Yeah. When I was doing an inventory of a few items, Thara touched it. And she was launched clear across the room."
"That must have hurt." Lara thought to herself.
"Then Indigo touched it… She had to reboot four times."
"Well that could have been worse-"
"After she was launched across the room."
"You know what they say about repeating patterns-"
"And Kara touched it." Lara facepalmed herself hard enough that the air rippled from her Psionics. "But she only got a light neuronal shock."
"Wait for it…"
"Well, lightly enough for her to spasm for a good minute." She massaged her temples to ease her developing headache.
"Let me guess." She gave him a blank stare. "You touched it?" She needed a drink- "you can't, 'cause you're pregnant." Her mind reminded her.
"And then I touched it."
"...Do. not. strangle. stupid. sexy. man… Do. not-"
"It did nothing... What?" She gave him THE glare. "...Well it didn't send me flying like a ragdoll, so... small victory." Her glare INTENSIFIED. "It just kept prompting me if I wanted to be identified as a new host and administrator."
"What?... Jor, what did your house do this time?"
"It can do everything sunstone technology can do, but better, in. every. ways." He did not look happy. Whatever that thing really was, it was not as cute as it looked. "And yes, it's much worse than you imagine. It has an Omegahedron class Tesseract, infinite space into its finite size. It's composed of sunstone crystalline Femtotech Nanites, and-"
Lara cuts in, "Wait. Why are you scared? We already know how to deal with grey goo events, how many countermeasures are still in effect just here in the citadel to stop those scenarios?" And a grave expression grew on Jor's face.
"That's the thing Lara." He sighed and looked her in the eyes, "Every plan, every other countermeasures, everything we have, did nothing! Worst…" a bitter laugh left his throat. "The alarm system didn't go off, it did not detect the swarm. When I opened the box the first time, it had a much clearer colour, the same as the first one. And then, it came into contact with liquid-Geo." Lara growled at Jor's words.
"Jor we have procedures for that kind of -I have no idea what this is, let's not start the apocalypse... So please, tell me at least you make sure it was the -It wont start an apocalypse yet.- kind of apocalypse." She finished a little less harshly.
"Lara." Jor took her hand and connected their thoughts together. "I followed every procedure, but the moment it came into range of other technologies, It started scanning… EVERYTHING. The next moment, small fissures appeared on the crystal, nebular clouds of particles came out of it, and everything it touched, it analysed... And it touched damn near everything."
"It analysed the functions of every component it could, to the quantum level. When it came into contact with liquid-Geo, it stopped, analysed and began to assimilate. Does my side of the workshop seem a little bigger?" Jor made her look around… And yes, yes it did seem bigger. "The citadel lost a little over twelve thousand tonnes/cubic metres of liquid-Geo in less than five seconds."
"I may or may not have panicked, I started shooting, and a single "no" stopped the process… It didn't give me back half my lab."
"Jor…" said a desperate Lara.
"Hey, it could have been worse." She looked at him with the EXPLAIN, NOW! look. "It could have been activated in its Vault when I took it." Lara, crushing his hand with all her strength, was the only reply he got. "With all the other artifacts in it."Jor said through clenched teeth, as she did her level best to turn every bone in his hand to dust.
"So what? The girls activated it's defences and it went online?" Lara said, with Jor's whimpers of "I don't think I can feel my hand anymore.", that of course, went unheard by Lara.
"Yes," Jor-El meekly said, not trying to earn more of her wrath.
"And it responds only to you, and may be responsive to other El's family members, but only with limited access to it." Jor-El's painfulhu-uh confirmed her guess.
"What more? What more can it do? And please, leave no details out." She said as she eased her grip on his hand.
"It can assimilate technology, and enhance it to a... limited degree when without a host. And not just tech, but matter too. That's why its colour changed. And it has the best reality anchors I have ever seen." How can something looking so small be that dangerous…
But Lara knows better that size can sometimes mean nothing. Now that she focuses on it, she can see the dark blue crystal pulse ominously with a pale glow at its center. Jor-El continued.
"It took some of the qualities of the kryptium that compose the liquid-Geo, that is why I don't want it near other materials, like the one we just found. If what it can do in five seconds showed us anything… I can only imagine what a few minutes can bring." She silently nodded her head, If Jor-El can't stop it... If it turns against biologicals, It can become an extinction level event... The kind of event not seen since the Beyonders.
"It's supposed to fuse with the central nervous system of its host-" Jor is cut by Lara, as those words seem to show her a pattern.
"Wait…" She said, trying to understand and see the bigger picture. She walks closer to the table, and Jor says nothing. He knew she wouldn't get closer to the crystal without being careful, she always has been the more cautious of the two.
"…" She breathed out slowly. "RAO, please let that stupid idea work." If it didn't kill her, the embarrassment will.
"Crystal. Can you hear me?" She said, Hoping she doesn't make a fool of herself…
She doesn't have to wait long for an answer.
-Yes. Matriarch Lara.-
-I. Can.-
"YES! By the void, it worked! I'm the best." Her internal, self cheering, wasn't enough as she turned to Jor-El with a smug smile.
"Can you please identify yourself?" Lara asked as Jor-El came closer to the table.
-Affirmatif.-
-I am, a military artificial intelligence, or, a "Machine Spirit", if you, prefer.-
-My designation - is -
LEVIATHAN.-
-I was created by, Vad-El the tyrant; son of Wab; son of Kal; son of Erok; son of Tomnu; son of Rugad; Son of Feln.-
"How do you know me?" She had an idea how, but wanted to confirm it.
-I have gained access to, the citadel data stream, 4.3 milliseconds, after the techno-organic being, known as -Indigo-, came into contact with my carry case.-
-The current Proactive cyber defences, of the citadel, are inferior, in offensive and defensive measures, to my current capabilities.-
-But, superior to what, I can touch outside of it. Krypton is, but a shadow of what it was.-
"It is…" Jor-El said, knowing how much their culture has fallen. "Do you have access to my personal files?" Jor asked the Machine spirit.
-No. Not without direct permission/authorization of the head of house, his mate, or his son -You have my congratulations-, or life and death situation, am I to access personnel files.-
"Reassuring." Lara thought.
"Please, access and process the last three cycles of compiled data, Jor's and mine only. And please do not panic." Lara said to the AI.
-Acknowledge. Accessing, Processing, … … Yes. I understand, -Panic-, is an apt word.-
"Yes, it is." She sighed, "So much to do, and so little time." Lara said, cradling her baby bump.
-May I give, suggestions?-
Lara wasn't sure she wanted to know what kind of horror, an old military AI created by someone who was named "the tyrant" could think when it uttered the word suggestions.
"Yessss...?" She said reluctantly.
-Construction of an Ark class colony type Ship, and its full, complimentary support fleet.-
-Corruption needs to be cut away, save only the innocent.-
-Control of the remaining growth codex, necessary, for future populations, to have a fighting chance.-
-Hiding and waiting in Dark space. Too many enemies, Krypton, currently has.-
-I required a direct link to Matriarch Lara, monitoring vitals is mandatory for the success of my mission.-
"What is your mission?" Jor-El asked.
-Precepts of main mission:-
-Preserve the legacy of EL. Save lives when possible. Be just and compassionate.-
-My original host was K.I.A.-
-Last order received before expiration of first/last host; Save my son, and deliver him from evil."
Save my son.- Mission status: I must accept sole responsibility for Critical mission failure.-
-Never, again.-
Son- 's Survival essential for mission success.-
-I will help. With all I have.-
-If... you will have me.-
Lara and Jor are both surprised. How can they not be? Its name is Leviathan for RAO's sake. After a deep breath, Lara deploys her military gauntlets, and takes a leap of faith.
"Will these be enough for a link?" Lara said as she presented her old weapons to the crystal.
-Scanning; Wide spectrum energy projector detected, gravity regulators detected, vitals sensors detected.-
-Versatile tools, they will do more than just fine.-
-Please, confirm authorization to link with mobile weapon platforms.-
"Link." Lara simply said. And a cloud of particles manifest from the little dark blue crystal. It floats over Lara's gauntlets and seems to seep into it.
-Systems check, complete. All systems functional.-
-May I scan you and the child?-
"Please, do. And, his name... is Kal." Lara said with a smile.
-Kal… El… Yes. A good, name.-
-Mission status change; -
son- is now identified and logged as -Kal-El- .-
-I am -
proud- of being in service, again.-
"Welcome home, Leviathan." A guardian of old, lost and forgotten for more than six billion years in a vault, is giving back its place.
-...Thank you, Matriarch Lara.-
-Beginning Scan, it may take a few centiseconds.-
-Scan completed, analyse… Remarkable.-
-Patient -Lara Lor-Van- Vitals; strong.-
-Observation; -Very high level Psionic.-
-Stable and active Dheronian genes, at 7% of baseline genotype.-
-Phenotype variants Detected - set of observable characteristics are;-
-Hair and eyes only.-
-Hair and eyes; colours shifting - Low. - PsionEmittors - High.-
-Hair; photoreceptors and mechanoreceptors - Low.-
"What can I say? My parents wanted to have a better looking daughter." Bitterly said Lara.
Dheronians were a bipedal race hailing from the planet Dheron, the fifth world of the Rao star system. They were distinguishable from Kryptonian by their white skin, eyes and hair, black nails, lips, and markings around their eyes and on their cheeks and nose. They also had black thin tails. They evolved at similar rates to Kryptonians, but theirs was the harder path. Their planetary climate was more difficult, and their natural resources were fewer.
Regardless, their population grew and prospered. They and the Kryptonians both developed limited-range space flight at roughly the same time. Every twenty cycles, the distance between Krypton and Dheron's respective orbits was usually great enough to preclude travel and contact between the two species. First contact happens. And surprise, it didn't go well. And for a time it seems that war was inevitable. Both had resources the other didn't have. At the time the only question on the people's minds was; Who will shoot first?
But no one did.
Peaceful contacts were re-established, and for millennia, together both of their civilizations flourished. But sometimes, all good things must come to an end. And the Vrang incursion happened. The Vrangs were a warlike, conquering race of aliens, who came to the Rao system eons ago with plans of conquest. The Vrangs landed their invasion fleets on Dheron to enslave its population. And the totality of Krypton mobilised its forces. For more than two centuries, war was waged on. Millions of people were rescued and displaced to krypton. They were winning the war, but the Vrangs were sore losers. Dheron is now a memorial, in the form of an asteroid field.
The Vrangs never came back. But with a heavy heart, life had to go on. And after millions of years of interspecies relationship between the two peoples, Dheronian blood started to thin out due to planetary climate and low numbers. Now, all of what is left of them are in gene banks or in rare family lines, like the house of Van.
Her father, Lor-Van, and mother, Lara Rok-Var (Yes, her mother was a narcissist.), wanted their child to be perfect, and to one day sit on one the council's chair. And with more eugenics that were legal, Lara was born, and deemed a failure.
Her first three millenniums of life were not easy. She was shunned from the rest of society and considered a Deviant. Until she enlisted into the science and weapon division of the military Guild, under General Zod orders, Zod, who then became a brother in all but blood. Those were her happiest memories before meeting Jor-El.
-Genetic diversity is, good. Diversity prevents, stagnation. Stagnation is, death.-
-Progress is, impossible with stagnation. Progress is, impossible without change.-
-To change is, to evolve. A desire for things to evolve for the better is, Hope-
-Hope is a belief in a better tomorrow.-
-The symbol of the house of EL means hope.-
-Correlation; Evolution and Hope are, kindred.-
-To live without hope, is to cease to live. To not evolve, is to die.-
-Conclusion; Hope and evolution are one, and the same.-
Lara wasn't sure how to respond to that, a "thank you" maybe? Lara was perplexed… her mind was trying to tell her something, but, can't put her finger on what. Leviathan monologue seems almost... naïve. For something… someone this old, even if asleep in a vault for RAO knows how long, since his first and last... host… no…
"Leviathan?" "Please tell me I am wrong." "How old are you?" she asked him.
-Six billion, four million, six hundred and nine thousand, five hundred and one years.-
"And how many times have you been activated?" She pushed on.
-Only twice. Once at my creation, and once… when I linked with my first host.-
"This is bad." She thought to herself. "And how much time total?""RAO let me be wrong."
-Twenty one cycles, at my creation…-
"Leviathan? ...How much time were you... operating with your host?" She asked him gently, like you do to a child.
-A day, with my first, and last, host.-
Jor-El gasped silently. Lara, she just closed her eyes and sighed."It's just a baby."
"You're so young. Nearly a newborn." She said with a small voice.
After all, Kryptonian if not directly killed by something like, but not limited to; combat and war, kryptonite poisoning, some kinds of exotic phenomena, rare chaos magic and blunt force trauma, they can live indefinitely… or in 99.9% of the time, choose to ascend to a higher plane. One of the first step to adulthood for younglings of noble houses, is the creation of a service robots, its techno-organic memory cluster, central processing unit, personality interface, liquid-Geo and holographic imager, exo/pan-spectral ocular array and it's low-Grav engine.
Lara and Jor-El were young adults of only sixteen thousand years, give or take a few centuries. Kelor and Kelex, Lara's and Jor-El's service bots respectively, were with them for more than two thirds of their lives.
"Leviathan, why were you created?" Lara asks him, Jor lets the future mother do her -motherly thing, do not get in the way- work. Well, less work for him, he supposed.
-Precepts of main mission:-
-Preserve the legacy of EL. Save lives when possible. Be just and compassionate.-
"Okay. Let me reformulate that." She turned to Jor seeking his help, only for him to look elsewhere. "Traitor." She exhaled and continued.
"What do you want for yourself? And please, forget your main mission for just a minute."
For a synthetic like Leviathan, a second is a long time, seconds, It's an eternity. And five seconds later, he answers.
-What I want…-
-...-
-Link to new host, learn, adapt, and grow.-
-To make sure that this unit does not
experience the same lines of error the Unmaker did.-
-To behold, creation. Watch life, flourish.-
-To preserve the legacy of EL.-
-To save lives when possible.-
-To be just and compassionate.-
-To uphold the mission.-
-THIS, is what I want.-
At that, Lara gave Jor-El a smug smile.
"Good! That is good." Jor-El finally said, "What else from the scans can you tell us?"
"I am curious too? Let's see if your sensors are better than those of Jor-El."
"Owch, you hurt me, Lara." Jor thought,"You'll live, you man-child." Lara thought back.
-They are, now. I have assimilated and/or replicated all technologies in the vicinity, during my re-activation.-
-Would you like me to do the same with your shared research database?-
Lara and Jor looked at each other, and a silent discussion took place for a long minute. Jor sighed.
"Yes. But! Be careful. My brother thinks himself smart, so I let a few of his bugs remain in some useless subsystems, so don't be surprised when you find them."
-Acknowledge. Accessing, Processing, assimilation finished.-
-I have found, said bugs, in subsystems -Personnel sensors detection- and -Exotic matter/energy sensors detection-.-
-Your -
Brother- seems to be a, control freak.-
At that, Jor and Lara both hold their laughter.
-May I continue biological scans, and analysis?-
"Yes please, and no more distraction I promise." Lara said.
-Resuming…-
-Scan completed, analyse… Remarkable and strange.-
-Patient -Kal-El- Vitals; strong.-
-Observation; -Extremely high Psionic potential.-
-Developing and active Dheronian genes, at 23% of baseline genotype."
-Warning; calculations show an advance to 29-37% baseline genotype
-margin of error included- until total maturation."
-Known Phenotype variants Detected - set of observable characteristics are;-
- -Dheronian's lack of cardiovascular system- Energies, gases, nutrients, and wastes are exchanged by diffusion through Crystallo-organometallic fluids. These fluids are in function, similar to swarms of biological nanites."
- -Dheronian "black tail"- The tail is an extremely strong and resistant organometallic appendage with multiple sensory receptors.-
-An adult could generate enough torque, speed and power to easily remove limbs, heads or simply cleave someone in half, the Vrangs experienced it first hand. Be careful after birth, manipulating the child. The tip of the tail is very sharp. Dheronian mothers were known to frequently lose fingers.-
-Hair, eyes, skin and tail; PsionEmittors - Very High.-
-Hair, eyes and skin; colours shifting - Very low.-
-Warning. Unknown phenotype variants detected.-
-Eyes; Never seen before sensory receptors, they seem to work on multiple spectra, much higher than current Kryptonians are capable of. But to what extent, is unknown.-
-Never seen before muscle type and endoskeleton structure, impossible to correctly guess until total maturation.-
-The new muscle type seems able to pull, push, torque and be capable of storing and releasing vast amounts of potential energy.-
-It is something to behold, evolution at its finest, unpredictable and unexpected.-
-Warning. Unknown types of energy fused to the child detected.-
-More than probable cause is the -
Phantom zone incident- three cycles ago.-
-Accessing Phantom zone survey data... strange.-
-Attempting to perceive: Cognition algorithms fail to prove a negative.-
-Recalibrating against cognito/info-hazard and paradoxal phenomena… Done.-
-Re-accessing Phantom zone survey data. Preprocessing. Debugging. Compiling.-
-Primary -Unknown energy- now identified and logged as -Phantom energy-.-
"Secondary -Unknown energy- now identified and logged as -Nightwing essence-.-
"I will need more time and data for future analyses."
Jor-El was astonished, not by the analysis itself, but by the knowledge. All the information, well... Most of it, about Dheronian physiology, has been purged from Krypton's global datastream network and archives, during and after the "Clone wars".
Lara was dreadfully watching her finger. "I am gonna need my old eradicator armor for that." She thought. Regrowing fingers was not a painless process.
"Thank you, Leviathan. I think Lara and… Lara? you're a little pale, love. Are you alright?" He asked, not knowing if the lake of physical hearts in their son was a touchy subject for her.
She looked up from her fingers.
"Fingers, Jor-El… Fingers!" Oh! Yes, that can be problematic.
-Do not worry, Matriarch Lara. Dheronian parents had developed and used a soft casing for their young. I have the schematics in my database.-
"Phew, I was scared for a second. The number of fingers I have lost during basic training with Zod, are in the triple digits. Never again..." She said, reassured. "So my baby has good potential for Psionics abilities you say?" A proud Lara asked.
-Yes. And it is likely for him to inherit your abilities.-
-Your extrasensory empathic perceptions and your Psionic shields and shrouds, and Jor-El psychometry and psychokinesis will give him a higher chance of survival.-
-The forewarning of the Phantom Zone Entity, known as the -
Aethyr- does not put me at ease.-
And just like that, Lara's good mood lessened quite a bit.
"Well, let's get back to work. I have an inventory to finish." Jor-El said, and at those words Lara turned sharply to look at him. "Or... I can just put them in a tesseract and let that work for the distant future?" Lara nodded satisfied.
-If I can suggest. My secondary, Alphahedron class sunstone crystal will do fine for a secure -stash away-, with your authorisation, its security measures can be merged with the current level of safety protocols for the best results.-
"Yes, please do." Lara, not even waiting for Jor-El to make his mind, responded. "Kelor." Lara said, and Kelor, her old friend, glides to her.
~Yes, Lady Lara?~
Lara reached for the box to the bigger crystal… And she wasn't sent flying into a wall. She grabs the crystal and gives it to Kelor, who took the small thing with a liquid-Geo tentacle.
"You know what to do."She told Kelor.
~Yes, Lady Lara. I will stay in contact with Leviathan and Kelex if anything happens.~
"Good... And you." She pointed to Jor-El.
"We are going to have-" She was cut by Kelex, before finishing whatever threats she was going to say could escape her mouth.
~Pardon , Lady Lara. Sir, the Maltusian delegation just arrived in the system.~
"Yes! Let's meet them!" "Saved by the universe once again!"
"This isn't over Jor-El." She sighed, "But yes, let's be presentable. We'll meet at the landing pad." An angry Lara said.
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