31
"Do you think there's enough here?" George queried as he eased the runabout closer to the asteroid's surface.
"I am... ecstatic, George. I had expected to have to hunt much longer and harder than this to find the necessary quantity of ore. How do you propose we proceed?" The pair began to edge toward the airlock where a set of lockers stood nearby. George opened one.
"I think the asteroid is large enough for its gravity to hold the ship, so we'll set her down on the rock. Obviously, you will need to wait in the ship." George poked around in the locker and then produced a large white environmental suit from within. "I'll go out in an EVA suit and assess the situation. Once we know how firmly the kryptonite is wedged in, we'll have a better idea on how to get it out."
"What about storage?"
"As you said earlier, we've several lead boxes that these explosives are currently stored in. If you could safely dismantle the bombs and diffuse them, we could store the ore in them. Then we can get them to your ship and get this device of yours working."
"And then we will head to your planet to reverse the effects of Brainiac's curse?"
"That would be my idea of a plan... I just hope this works. I've been missing my family so much since this all began." George began to don the EVA suit. "You know, I think you'd like my wife and kids, Guer-On... Say, do you mind if I call you Gary?"
"Must you?" said the tiny Kryptonian as George checked the back pack for atmosphere levels.
"No, but it is a little easier on the human tongue."
"I suppose it would be all right." Guer-On feigned righteous indignation. "Just don't ever do that should you find a way to visit New Krypton."
"I hadn't even thought about that. Do you think that could be possible?" All George needed to complete his outfit was a helmet. He located one in the locker's shelf.
"I hope so, George. You know, I... I have a family, too. It would be wonderful if you could meet them."
"I'd like that, Gary. It's a date... if we live through this." He smiled at his friend as he entered the pressure/depressure chamber. Upon closing the hatch, he put the helmet in place, sealed all breaches, then began depressurizing the airlock.
"Mom, about what that crystal did to me? There's been a little development." Jimmy and Linda Kaye arrived at the Carr's house just as his mother and sister came out the door.
"What do you mean, a development?" Phyllis was just a little uneasy at this notion. Noel, on the other hand, greeted the news in her usual demeanor as the group started down the road toward the Kent homestead.
"I knew it! He's growing a tail!" Phyllis glared at her daughter and then put her hand on Jim's head.
"Son, are you feeling all right? It hasn't made you sick or anything, has it?"
Linda Kaye couldn't help but to giggle a little as she answered for her boyfriend, "Oh no, Mrs. Kent. I think he actually feels pretty darned good!"
Jimmy appeared to be a little embarrassed as he picked up a fist sized rock from the gutter. "They say a picture is worth a thousand words... at least the guys who make comic books do,"
"Momma, don't let him hit me with that rock!" squealed Noel.
"Relax, shrimp!" said her brother with a smile, then he squeezed the stone and it became nothing more than dust. Phyllis and Noel were shocked into silence, stunned by the feat. "Did I mention earlier that I thought that crystal might have done more to me than invading my mind?"
Finally Phyllis asked, "What other abilities have you gained?"
"Really, I don't know, Mom. I felt something was different about me ever since I got up this morning, but I couldn't put my finger on what it was. I was completely in the dark about it until Moe Brawn..."
Noel winced at the mention of the name. "Oh, no! Not that creep!"
"... until Moe punched me in the stomach."
Phyllis became agitated by the revelation that her son had been in a fight with another boy. "What is it with you and that boy? Do you do anything to get him stirred up? Why can't you just stay away from him? Do you do things to get him stirred up?"
"Mrs. Kent," interjected Linda. "To be fair to Jim, Moe never needs to be stirred up. He's just an immature Neanderthal who has to be more important than anyone else in his world, and Jimmy's relationship to greatness has always made him an easy target... for Moe and anyone else like him."
"Anyone else?"
"Jimmy has been taking abuse from other kids ever since I first met him in grade school. Most of them grew out of it, but Moe still hasn't. Didn't you know?"
"I knew he had some troubles, but I never knew it was that bad. Jimmy didn't always tell me."
"Aw Mom, I didn't want to be a whiner. Besides, how does it look for a guy to tell his mother stuff like that? And especially with me being the great, great, great..."
"You should have said something, son. A boy that does that to you would do that to others as well. I could have alerted someone in authority - your principal... or Moe's mother perhaps - and had him disciplined... for his own sake if not for yours."
"Yeah, that would have worked!" Jimmy retorted with a laugh. "And I wouldn't have lived past sixth grade!"
Noel wanted Jim to finish his story. "So he punches you in the gut and then what?"
"He screams like a..." He started to say "like a girl" and thought better of it since he was surrounded by femininity. "He screams like he's really in pain and stares at his hand. I think he - uh, I - might have broken it."
Jim's sister began to giggle uncontrollably. "Hee-hee-hee. About time that creep got what he deserves. Way to go, Bro!"
"After that, I did a couple of tests - like the rock thing - and found out that I am really, really strong, and I can move at super-speed. I don't know about flying, though. I haven't tried it, yet. But I can hear things from a long way off."
"Do you have any vision powers like your father?" Phyllis automatically thought of the story about how from outer space, her husband had spotted her on a raft in the ocean.
"I... think so, but I'm not sure. Frankly, Mom, I'm a little scared to try them. I'm afraid I might start a fire with heat vision, or give someone cancer with x-ray vision or something. I'm not sure how to turn them on or off and how to make the right one happen!"
Noel, as usual, interrupted, "So if you start a fire, you get to find out if you have super-breath like Super-Gramps. And they have pills to cure cancer these days, you know."
"Yeah, well, maybe I'd give them some new unknown type of super-cancer that..."
Phyllis intervened. "Okay, enough. I get the picture. We can find out just how much this thing has affected you later. Right now, let's get some lunch and then, Jim, I want you to try and finish that story about Jor-El in case there is something more that might help Mr. Carr. Linda Kaye, would you like to join us?"
"Thanks, Mrs. Kent, I'm supposed to go back home and finish my chores, but I'll ask my dad. I just came by to support Jim with his story. He was afraid you wouldn't believe him."
"Oh, but of course I would. I'm his mother! I know when he's telling the truth and when he's making something up just by instinct. Besides, I've seen so many strange things in my life that... uh..." It happened again! Yet another fleeting memory had popped in and out of her mind like a flash bulb going off in a dark room.
"Mom? Like what?" Noel could sense her mother's distress. "You never said anything like that before. What kind of strange things have you seen?"
Phyllis looked at the kids surrounding her and couldn't answer. She tried hard but nothing came. It was moments like this that she wished that George was here. And right now, she wished that very hard!