32
George was more than just a little apprehensive about getting so close to a large boulder of kryptonite. Although he was much more human than Kryptonian, he did still retain some strains of the blood of his ancestor, and there was no telling how much its radiation could affect him. Thus he moved very cautiously as he neared the green rock imbedded in the asteroid upon which he stood. It was large - at least a meter wide and a meter and a half long.
If he was as vulnerable to the strange rays emitted by the boulder as his alien passenger, the EVA suit may have had enough protective lining in the outfit to shield him from them. As it was, he did feel some discomfort in his stomach as he approached the rock. Beads of sweat formed on his brow and a mild headache throbbed at his temples. But, he thought, that could just be a case of nerves. He studied where the meteor had impacted the asteroid and determined that the kryptonite must have struck quite some time back, as the area around the emerald ember did not appear to have fresh markings to evidence a recent impact. It was also embedded no telling how deeply into the rocky face of the asteroid. If this was going to be removed from its resting place, it would take more than George's hands to wrest it away.
George took a moment to admire his view of the ebony vacuum of space from his vantage point. Even after all his years of piloting spacecraft, he was still awestruck by the heavenly bodies around him as he traveled through the heavens. He knew that this and the other asteroids which were flanking it were all traveling at thousands of miles per hour, yet from his perspective they were all practically motionless, as if they were chalk drawings on a giant blackboard. It gave him a feeling of serenity, despite the fact that this seeming order was actually a part of a great chaotic grouping of flying boulders.
Speaking of boulders, he thought, I'd better get inside the ship and see what we can find to get this one loose, and he ambled back to the airlock hatch and re-entered the runabout.
While waiting for the chamber to pressurize, George thought about his children and especially his beautiful Phyllis. He wished he could be with her right now instead of figuring out how to pull rocks out of rocks in the dead of outer space. Why me? he mused. Why couldn't someone else be the one to fly around the cosmos and save the world? And then he remembered. It was two worlds he was helping to save. And if he wanted to see his family again, he'd better get with it and get inside the runabout.
He removed his helmet as soon as breathable atmosphere returned to the room, but kept the rest of the EVA suit on. After all, he would be going right back out again once supplied with something to get the kryptonite loose and something to contain it with. The air pressure in the chamber finally normalized and the hatch into the ship slowly opened automatically.
He nonchalantly stepped into the runabout and headed for the bridge and asked, "Gary, it looks like that meteor is wedged in there pretty tightly. I wonder if there's an energy rifle in a storage hatch somewhere?"
A decidedly different voice from Guer-On's - a female voice - answered him. "I haven't seen Gary, but I do have an energy gun. Will this one do? Oh, wait! I'm using it, aren't I? I'm pointing it at your head and preparing to blow you into atoms!"
That feeling of serenity George had been experiencing faded away as he stared into the barrel of a gun held by non other than the most nefarious restaurant owner on the Martian colonies, and he was so surprised that all he could do was to utter her name.
"Jennifer!"
Jimmy enjoyed lunch tremendously. Phyllis took them all out to a Tex-Mex restaurant - Jim's favorite food - and he had taken advantage of a defenseless enchilada platter with a taco on the side. Noel downed a taco platter while Phyllis and Linda Kaye ate salads.
"I think you two could eat this kind of cuisine for every meal and be very happy!" said Phyllis to her two children, who only nodded their agreement as they continued to dig in.
Linda finished her salad and eyed her boyfriend as if she was looking at him for the first time. "Not to change the subject from this happy small talk, but you said something to me on the way over here about some kind of trance you were in... telling some sort of story?"
"Oh, please! No!" said Noel. "That is really spooky stuff! I don't want to watch him do that again!"
Jimmy shrugged his shoulders and volunteered, "I'm not too keen on it myself, Shorty, but I think it's something I've gotta do."
"Yes, Sweetie," added her mother. "Jim's right. We have to find out everything that could help Mr. Carr and his friends. It may sound melodramatic, but the fate of the world may in his hands."
"His hands? I played football with him Wednesday, and he dropped three passes!"
"Noel!"
"Aw, mom! I'm just kiddin'. I know you're right."
"Well then..."
"But it is spooky!"
"No-el!"
"Sorry... Go ahead, big brother. My nerves are like steel."
Jimmy looked at the entourage seated around him and closed his eyes for a moment. Taking a deep breath, he opened them again, and resumed Jor-El's story...
Studies on the soil samples and the Kandor Crater, as the news media had taken to calling it, continued for four months. Jor-El had discovered that the purple element in the soil would become unstable, especially when exposed to radiation, and could explode after some time. He had returned to the site of the grand theft and determined that the element 349, as he had catalogued it, was continuing to grow beneath the ground of Krypton at an exponential rate. The one thing he hadn't discovered was how to stop it. And now, something new had been added to the mix... quakes.
Tremors were nothing unusual on the great planet of Krypton. Seismic activity occurred now and then as on any planet. But these newest quakes seemed to be happening with more frequency and in areas that were not prone to such events. So far, the activity consisted of no more than a rumbling, but each tremor became more intense than the preceding one, and the Science Council began to take notice.
Jor-El suspected the quakes might be related to the element found in Kandor Crater, and he asked the council to allow him to be the lead investigator in the case. They had no objections as this activity was, they thought, of a naturally occurring nature and of no major concern. Jor-El thought differently, of course.
Meanwhile, Lara continued to discover the joys and woes of natural gestation. Morning sickness was an unexpected malady that she had to learn to deal with. Fortunately, Kerra was able to help her through it.
"Ooooooh, I do not think I am ever going to be able to eat anything again... never!" said Jor-El's wife after a rough bout of nausea. Kerra tried to suppress a smile, but found it too difficult.
"My mother said the same thing during her pregnancy, and then she would turn around and eat Xandorian ice cream with sour pickles."
Lara suddenly perked up. "What's wrong with that? That actually sounds good to me. Do we have some?" Kerra rolled her eyes as she grinned at her benefactor. It had been like a dream come true working for the El family. They both couldn't be nicer people. Jor made sure she was well compensated for her time and Lara was so easy to talk to. It was very therapeutic for her as well, to able to deal with the loss of her own family by becoming a part of this one.
And she was still assisting Jor in his investigations. When the first quake hit in the Scarlet Jungle, she was able to use her training as a forest ranger to help him find and get to the site where it happened. She had even been the first one to spot the strange purple element sticking up through the surface.
Jor had built a device that was sensitive to element 349, and after Kerra spotted the ore, he scanned the area with it. The element had reproduced itself, spreading out in a web-like pattern from the crater area. The quake site they were staking out was a good ten miles away from the crater. How widespread can this become? thought the scientist. And how deep will it go?
He was more worried about the last thought than the first, but he was careful not to show his anxiety to Kerra. If the core of our planet is composed of uranium as our scientists have theorized, he reasoned, then there's no telling what could happen if this element's roots reach that far. Even if it is composed of any other element such as, say, iron, the results could still be catastrophic. The unstable nature of 349 makes the situation just that unpredictable.
One thing was certain, though, in Jor-El's mind - this new development signaled a danger to the people of planet Krypton. How great that danger was remained to be seen.