Part 7

All love that has not friendship for its base,

is like a mansion built upon the sand.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

It was one of the greatest achievements of his generation—this apprenticeship to the Hall of Worlds. He had touched the planet's most powerful telescope on his first day in this Kryptonopolis museum. From his mentor Zor-el, Lex-ar learned the host of instruments that he would be expected to use. He had also been starstruck when he was introduced to Jor-el's brother, Mag-el's dear uncle, the legendary scientist Jor-el. Lex-ar had learned so many thing about Jor-el. In fact, he had learned so many of the inventions and contributions of the House of El. In Krypton, there was one family who was written in all pages of the planet's history. That was Mag-el's clan. Lex-ar wa sonly honored to be working so closely with them.

Daily, he would write extended letters home to Argo, where he knew Caelie would be waiting to hear from him. Often he found himself working on simple calculations that would yield disastrous results. Whenever he would backtrack in his calculations, he would learn that the reason for such unexpected figures was that he had written instead of the function of whatever arbitrary number, he had scrawled Caelie's initials instead.

Lex-ar had been concerned when Caelie did not answer his call when he had sent her a holograph the day before. At first, he had wondered whether Caelie still hurt at his departure. They had established that the distance would be painful, but Caelie had graciously accepted his decision to pursue this career in the capital. He supposed that it was probably because Gab-rel had only just left the Council and headed for home. They may have been spending time together.

It was only when Lex-ar was in the basement, and he heard passionate voices arguing overhead, did he begin to truly worry. He had no intention to eavesdrop of course. He went to the basement because he had purchased something for Caelie, which he was going to send to Argo City that afternoon, and he knew that metallic paper for wrapping was available in the basement.

The voices above were recognizable. In fact, he had played recordings of those voices over and over again as he studied all he needed to learn about the stars through their lectures.

"With the strength of a thousand suns!" Jor-el's deep voice exploded.

Lex-ar flinched, because the rumble in the man's exclamation contained such terror and excitement.

"It's impossible," replied Zor-el. Lex-ar heard footsteps from above him. Knowing what the room above contained, he knew that the brothers were walking towards the board—perhaps picking up a pointer to draw conclusions by laser light. There were tapping and thudding. "Unreal, Jor-el."

"You are a mathematician and an astronomist. Tell me, brother, if this is in fact unreal."

That peaked Lex-ar attention. He slid out of his chair and crept up as close as he could get to the room where the brothers spoke. It was going to be like watching a genius' process. Lex-ar peered in and read the glowing numbers on the wall.

He was only halfway through when Zor-el shook his head. As his mentor walked up to the numbers and reworked the formula, Lex-ar had time to read through the horrifying reality that Jor-el had presented. Hopeful and desperate, Lex-ar read as Zor-el derived the formula that Zor-el had ended up with. Transmuting the rest of the figures, he arrived at a near perfect reflection of Zor-el end figure. Zor-el's calculation was at its highest sigma probability.

It was, Lex-ar knew, at its very basic sense, flawless.

"We are going to die," Zor-el whispered as he made sense of Jor-el's theory. "Our world will destroy itself and consume us all."

When Lex-ar heard of that conclusion coming from the man he deemed most brilliant of all Kryptonian scientists, it was all he could do not to flee back to Argo City. Instead, he clutched at a chair and waited for Jor-el to resolve this problem he had begun.

"The core of Krypton is composed of uranium, right," Jor-el reminded his brother.

Zor-el agreed and continued, "For untold ages, it has been setting up a cycle of chain-impulses, building in power every moment!"

As Lex-ar listened to the two, and more and more the numbers made sense, he picked up the assumption himself. "Soon, very soon, every atom of Krypton will explode in one final terrible blast!"

"Krypton is one gigantic atomic bomb!" Jor-el cried. Lex-ar watched as Jor-el gathered countless papers and the pointer. "I am going to the Supreme Council now," he pronounced. "We will take all we can take. I am going to have them send out fleets of ships out. Zor-el, find me an otherworld that we can inhabit. We must complete a proposal to abandon the Planet Krypton."

After Jor-el left, Lex-ar revealed his presence to his mentor. "Zor-el."

The older man turned around and saw Lex-ar standing there. He glanced up at the calculations left on the wall. "You are an intelligent young man. There is no sense removing this."

"What should we do?"

"We wait," was the answer. "Krypton's core had long been bent on destroying us. Surely we can wait for the Council to decide."

At those words, Lex-ar's gaze fell to the floor.

"I have a task for you."

At this, Lex-ar looked up at Zor-el at once. "Anything to help."

The older man smiled fondly at Lex-ar. "Gab-rel had gone home to Argo City. The Council had sent him back because he had fallen ill after the Council had sent him on a goodwill trip. I wish you to break this theory to him. Make it gentle, and seek for his advice."

Lex-ar's heart soared at the prospect of seeing Caelie again. He needed to see her after this revelation. He was terrified, but he knew he had to help out.

"Stay there for the night," Zor-el advised. "And if you will, bring home a gift for my Alura."

Lex-ar nodded. "Do you wish for your wife and son to know?"

"Tell Mag-el, so he will know what to prepare. Alura I will tell myself, when all of this is settled."

"Then you will help in the relocation of Argo City, and leave Kryptonopolis to your brother?" Lex-ar inquired.

Zor-el's fond smile turned into a sad one, and he reached out to give Lex-ar shoulder a pat. "Son, Krypton's time is done. The Council knows this."

"What do you mean?" Lex-ar asked in disbelief.

The older man motioned for Lex-ar to follow him out of the room, and they walked through the corridors filled from one side to the other with three dimensional images of other planets. "These are the sceneries we have worked for through all observations done in all these centuries. Some of these worlds are gone, eaten by their stars thrown out of their galaxies by their treacherous gravity—much like our twin world, Xenon. You remember that in school?" Lex-ar nodded. "There are many truths in the universe, understood by the most brilliant of beings. Our Council is a group of the planet's most brilliant. Mark my words, my Lex-ar. The Council will speak of my brother's theories as baseless, but they have always known that this will be our end."

"Why won't they help?" Lex-ar exploded.

"Because our Old World has been long gone. We should have perished with Kandor's loss. Now it I truly our end."

"And you believe the Council will want us to go gently into oblivion? What about Jor-el suggestion? We can occupy one of the existing worlds!"

"Such youth," Zor-el murmured. "I shall personally oppose that proposal. I love these worlds around me."

"Then we shall live there." Lex-ar wondered of all the worlds he and Caelie had seen through their telescope in Argo City. One of those could be their new home. He hoped to find the one that Caelie would most love.

"Any world with an environment good enough to sustain Kryptonian life has its own occupants now. Implanting our civilization there would cause them ruin." Zor-el shook his head. "I will not allow our search for salvation to destroy other lives."

Lex-ar formulated his opposition, but kept his opinion to himself. Having worked only for a few weeks in the Hall of Worlds, he had developed respect for other civilizations as well. Yet if he had to choose between lives of strangers and of those whom he love, he would certainly choose the latter.

"Lex-ar, your communicator."

Lex-ar was jarred out of his reverie at the subtle flash and vibration. When he took the communicator from his pocket and opened it, a small hologram of Caelie emerged. At his first sight of those liquid eyes, his heart stopped. "Cael."

"Lex-ar," she breathed.

"What is it, Caelie?" he urged. Lex-ar quickly glanced up at Zor-el, who was focused intently on the hologram as well.

"Come back," were her next words.

"I will," he vowed.

"Now, Lex-ar," she continued. "My father has died."

And there were no words.

"I wish to die."

"Caelie, I am coming to you," he promised firmly. "Look at me." And he wished he could take back his words, because the bottomless sorrow made his stomach clench. "Hold my gaze, Caelie. Don't let go."

And then the image flickered.

And she was gone.

What greater thing is there for two human souls that to feel that they are joined... to strengthen each other... to be at one with each other in silent unspeakable memories.

George Eliot

"Caelie!" he called out, the moment he landed outside of her home. "Caelie!"

Lex-ar's heart raced, when he was met only with silence. He ran up the stairs and through the corridors. "Caelie," he repeated, opening each door.

"Caelie!"

Zor-el had told him that it was impossible to make it to Argo City from Kryptonopolis in the hour that he wished to repeat, in a feat he had done months ago when she had gone missing. Lex-ar had made it back before the hour closed. He had been warned. The House of Rel would remain empty of all occupants not related by blood. Only family would be allowed inside for the next half of the day since Gab-rel passed away. Zor-el had advised him to stay in Kryptonopolis during the waiting time, but Lex-ar knew that in those precious hours, Caelie would need him most.

The house was so still, and he prayed to heaven that Caelie had not called him back for another reason than to comfort her. He could not imagine another more horrifying sight than to see her hurt.

The last room at the very end of the wing was Gab-rel's study. Lex-ar suddenly knew, with absolutely certainty, that it was there that he would find Caelie. Why had it not occurred to him, when her hologram was seated against a wall so obviously in her father's study?

In stories shared to him by Gab-rel himself, his first meeting with Caelie had been in this very study, when she was but hours old and he had come with his father to save her life. Lex-ar pushed the entry button, and the door slid open. When he stepped into the room, he stopped still on his tracks. There Gab-rel sat unmoving in his chair behind the desk, his head leaning forward, lifeless. At the moment of death, the household must leave the body untouched for that half of the day. Obviously, the old councilman had perished while working. It was an honorable death in his old age. Lex-ar oddly felt thankful in his heart that the man would not live to see Krypton's destruction.

When he stepped closer to the desk, his attention was caught by a figure at the edge of his vision. Lex-ar turned and saw Caelie sitting on the floor, against the wall, simply looking at the still body of her father. She was dry-eyed and quiet, and appeared to be deep in thought. At the sight, he immediately turned towards her, then knelt down.

"Caelie, come with me. You need to rest."

Slowly, as if registering his presence through a haze, she turned to him and just stared.

"Caelie, come on," he urged softly.

And then she nodded and placed her hand in his. "It didn't take you long," she whispered.

Lex-ar felt, despite the deceptive façade of strength and control, the tremor that still rocked her body. She leaned more heavily against him as they walked away. When they reached the door leading to the way out of the study, most of her weight was already against Lex-ar. On her next step, her knees buckled. When he moved to carry her, she shook her head. "Just help me."

And when he did lead her to her bed, he sat beside her and then leaned down to kiss her on the cheek. "Sleep, Caelie." Her eyes contained so much, as if she wanted to believe that she was in a dream, and everything would be perfect when she woke up. "Things won't change," he admitted. "I can't make everything better, but I'll still be here. I promise."

She closed her eyes and breathed. Maybe, it was already a little bit better.

Love is an electric blanket with somebody else in control of the switch.

Cathy Carlyle

tbc