Disclaimer: Superman and all related characters and elements are trademarks of DC Comics Inc., a subsidiary of the Warner Bros. Global Brands and Experiences division of Warner Bros. I own nothing except the plot of this story.


Chapter 1: The Last Son of Krypton

Jor-El stood before the Council of Krypton with an expression of urgency on his face. He had gone over thousands of calculations concerning the recent spike in tremors that had shaken his home planet in the past year alone, and every calculation stated that the planet's ice caps were tapping the heat at Krypton's uranium core due to their high density. The more the core was unable to release its heat properly, the more potent the seismic activity became. Worse still, the tremors were spiking at a shocking rate and the heat was increasing to a critical level. If Jor-El's calculations were correct, Krypton would suffer an atomic chain reaction that would destroy the entire planet, and all signs pointed to it.

The head Councilman declared, "Jor-El, you have come before us once again to testify to your theories that the recent tremors across our planet present imminent danger to Kryptonian society. Frankly, this session is sure to prove itself to be another fool's fantasy, but if it will appease you, we will hear what evidence you have to present to us."

Jor-El gave only a nod and then activated the holoprojector, feeding his information into it. Then Jor-El told the leaders of Krypton what he had gone over and had constantly found. He said, "Fellow scientists, council members, I know well that you will find this difficult to believe, but after going over the same calculations for the past year, I have no doubt that the threat these quakes are presenting is far deeper than geological forces. Krypton's core is being tapped by the ice caps of our world, and they have spread in recent years to cover one-sixth each of Krypton's northern and southern hemispheres. Even now, the heat in the core is constantly rising and falling, but it is not falling back to a level lower than the previous one."

The council members looked at one another, some with derision and some with uncertainty. Then one member said, "Surely you must be mistaken, Jor-El. This may be no more than a global cooling shift."

"It's not," Jor-El answered. "The poles are cooling, but Krypton's equator is growing warmer every hour. Moreover, the scans are detecting that the tremors are not just increasing. They're getting stronger and producing fissures that are growing larger."

Another councilor declared, "New geological forces create breaks in the surface on any terrestrial planet, Jor-El. This is nothing to concern us with."

This time, Jor-El used the holoprojector to show the Council the most important factor: the core's radiation level.

"Do you not understand? These quakes are more than mere geological occurrences!" Jor-El insisted. "The core's radiation is rising constantly, and the core's heat being tapped by the poles is an obvious sign of this. We all know Krypton's molecular structure is a shade denser than most other planets in this solar system alone, and the heat and radiation increase can be no coincidence."

To Jor-El's dismay, the council members either scowled or laughed, and the next councilor to speak said, "You are going too far, Jor-El. Do you expect us to listen to you just because every calculation you've made on this matter points to a cataclysm that only a supernova could produce?"

"Your words are only fit to scare the simple-minded, Jor-El," scoffed another. "If we bring word of these claims to the people of Krypton, there will be mass panic from here in Kandor to the ends of the world. We simply cannot allow it. Your claims no longer hold precedent here."

Jor-El insistently replied, "I am not trying to frighten the populace of our cities, councilors. I have looked into this matter so our people will be allowed to live to see another sunrise."

One councilor stood up and said scornfully, "And what would you have us do to remedy this potential destruction of our planet, oh, great and mighty Jor-El?"

"It cannot be helped," Jor-El said with earnest sorrow. "Not at the rate that this threat is growing. The only way for Krypton's people to survive this is to evacuate the planet."

There came another shout from the councilors, and they shouted, "Leave our ancestral world and place ourselves on some wilderness of a planet, where some primitive and savage civilization will rob us of our heritage?! Of our right to live free?!"

"It's the only way," Jor-El insisted. "I had prototype vessels constructed for this emergency the moment I learned of this danger a year ago. If they are used, there may yet be a chance."

Another councilor slammed his fist on the council table and said fiercely, "First you bring preposterous claims that our planet Krypton which has thrived for five hundred millennia is to perish in a fiery doom, and now you expect us to reverse our decrees forbidding invaders from setting foot on our world and stopping our own people from endangering themselves with such people! Who gave you the right?!"

Jor-El sighed. He wished that the council would put aside their arrogance and fear of other galactic peoples for the sake of preserving Krypton. But seeing as they would not, he said the only thing that came to his mind in spite of their accusations.

"I am only telling you this because I have searched for the truth behind this problem, and I only see that my fears are being confirmed. If Krypton's people are not evacuated, then our way of life will truly die."

The head councilman thundered, "We've heard enough! Jor-El of Krypton, you are removed from the Council for life on charges of fear-mongering and advising against the laws that the Council has set forth! Continue to force this upon us, and you will then await trial for conspiracy against us just as General Zod and his followers have! Now go!"

Jor-El of Krypton left the council chamber with a heavy heart. He knew that his calculations were correct and had compiled enough evidence to prove that the danger was real, but the Council of Krypton had refused to heed his warning for no other reason than their belief that Kryptonians were superior to all other civilizations in the galaxy and that all others would endanger the rich heritage of their planet.

They will not save our people for the sake of their denial, thought Jor-El. But I will not give up if even one person on Krypton can be saved.


Lara was at home in the domed complex where she and her husband had made their home in Kandor for the past five years. When Jor-El had begun looking into the tremors that had rocked Krypton in the past year, she had been quite skeptical on the matter, but as her husband continued researching and had made calculations that predicted Krypton was at risk, she became increasingly concerned that it was true. She only hoped that the Council would listen to her husband, for if they did not, Krypton was surely doomed.

Lara's thoughts were interrupted when the house security system announced, "Welcome home, Jor-El."

Lara rose up happily as the love of her life entered their home and she embraced him warmly. Jor-El briefly smiled, but he knew that he had to break the news to Lara now.

"What is it?" his wife asked him.

Jor-El sighed and said, "The Council has removed me from their ranks. I showed them the most vital evidence to prove that Krypton is in danger of destruction, and they only called it scare-mongering."

Lara gasped in shock and dismay. She said, "Then we are doomed?"

"No. Not yet."

Jor-El said to his love, "Do you remember what I told you we would do if worse came to worst?"

Lara nodded, and she said, "I wish it weren't so, Jor-El. But I know in my heart it's necessary."

"My brother Zor-El has built a ship for Kara so she can take care of our Kal for a time. But now, we must prepare our son for this journey."

Down in his home laboratory, Jor-El was putting the finishing touches on the rocket he had constructed to carry his only child to safety. It was little more than a crystalline escape pod as big as a rokan* egg, but it would do the job with no trouble if all was in order. Once the maintenance was complete, he set the auto-guidance systems toward the nearest planet where Kal-El would be welcome: Earth. Then he loaded the information crystal-tech that contained the knowledge of science and history that he had cataloged. He checked the timetable and got the answer he dreaded: core chain reaction within thirty minutes.

Lara then entered the chamber as the violent quakes and tremors began to grow wilder by the minute. In her arms was their infant son Kal-El, wrapped in a bundle of red and blue blankets and sleeping in his mother's arms as if all was well. Lara said, "Have you found a suitable world to take him in?"

"There is one where Kal might be made welcome," replied Jor-El. "The planet Earth in the Sol star system."

Lara was surprised and said, "Do you think it's wise to send him to that planet, Jor-El? The star it orbits is a yellow star. Under it, our son would have power greater than any person that lives on that planet. But the people of this world… they are millennia behind us in technology and in government, and not all are peace-loving. They will surely be afraid of him when they learn what he will be capable of."

"It will be the safest place for him, Lara," insisted Jor-El. "It is true that these Earthers are not as advanced as our people, but they are as capable of good and evil as Kal is and as we are, and there are many on Earth who value peace more than power. He will blend in among them and when he is ready, he will learn who he is and the legacy he carries with him. As for whether the Earthers will learn what he will be capable of, that will depend on him."

Lara sighed and replied, "We can only hope."

She kissed her sleeping baby's face and then handed Kal over to his father, who kissed his son's brow and then laid him safely within the escape rocket as the lab computer said, "Core chain reaction within twenty minutes."

As the lab trembled with another quake, Jor-El placed the information crystals into the storage compartment of the rocket and then said, "Kal-El of Krypton, you carry with you the knowledge and history of our once-great world. By the time you will be ready to know the truth of who you are, Krypton will be gone from the universe. But your mother and I will never truly leave you. We are with you, now and forever. May Rao guide you in all your doings that you may live to uphold the welfare of others as we have. I love you, my son."

With those words, Jor-El activated the rocket launch controls on the holo-touch pad. The rocket blazed to life with a roar and then shot into the sky of Krypton at awesome speed. Even as the computer declared that ten minutes remained, Jor-El and Lara watched with heavy hearts as their most precious possession, their only child, escaped the fate of his home world with only a minute to spare. Then as he and Lara embraced in the crumbling laboratory of their home, the holo-computer made its last announcement.

"Core explosion imminent. Five… four… three… two… one…"

There came a rending, splitting boom. Great jets of radiation shot into the sky all over Krypton with the force of volcanic eruptions, and then a blast of awesome heat mingled with this deadly energy burst from the ground and enveloped the planet. In seconds, Krypton exploded in waves of radiation and vanished into oblivion. But already several light-years away, the lone escape rocket raced on through the cosmic sea of space with its only passenger: Kal-El, the last son of planet Krypton.


A/N: How did you all like the beginning of this story? Feel free to let me know in a review.

Also, I got the term "rokan" from the old SuperFriends show from the 1970s. It originated in the SuperFriends episode "Rokan: Enemy from Space", in which a pterodactyl-like alien from Superman's home planet Krypton comes to Earth seeking a new planet to live on, and the Justice League works to convince it that Earth isn't suitable. I own nothing of the source material. Just the plot of this fanfiction.

Chapter 2 will be our first visit to Smallville, Kansas, where little Kal-El will be found by the family that raised him to be the hero we all know and love.