In Space, no one knows you're an alien
Chapter 3
Serenity, out in the black
The Serenity crew was sitting around the kitchen table, trying to wrap their minds around what Simon Tam had told them.
There was a school. A government-sponsored academy. We had never even heard of it, but it had the most exciting program. We could have sent her anywhere, we had the money, but she wanted to go. She wanted to learn. She was fourteen… I got a few letters at first and then I didn't hear for months. Finally I got a letter that made no sense. She talked about things that never happened, jokes that, that we never…It was a code. It just said…"They're hurting us. Get me out…
Right now, the doctor was busy tending to his patient…his sister.
Everyone else was sitting at the kitchen table, looking at each other, waiting for the captain to say something.
Anything…
"You believe him, Zoe?"
"He could be lying, but there are ways of back-checking," Reynolds' Second spoke doubtfully.
"Yep," Wash nodded. "If Dr. Tam really is one of those Tams, it would be as easy as getting on the Cortex."
"Do it, Wash," Reynolds said. "Don't want anything biting us on the butt as we go on our merry. How about you, Todd? Any ideas on the subject?"
"Me? Ah…"Zod hesitated. "I would suggest…keeping both of the Tams under our watchful eyes, at least until…Wash…is finished with his...research."
What kind of Academy does that to its students?
Even the Council of Krypton wasn't that venal.
The girl will need to be kept under watchful eyes even if her brother is revealed to be telling the truth.
Later that evening, as everyone not on duty was safely asleep, Dru Zod lay down on his bed, remembering when it had all gone to hell for him…
Krypton thirty-five years ago
Dru Zod had located four long-range colony-size ships capable of using the Phantom Drive. He had gotten the Academy Head to authorize the purchase of said ships; the pretext being that the Engineer Caste could hone their skills by retrofitting the ancient ships with the modern drive all ships used nowadays.
That part of the plan had gone without a hitch, and now the Academy had four long-range colony ships capable of true interstellar travel. Navigation had been updated with all the newest star maps. Jor El was elated, and even Jax Ur was beginning to show signs of cautious optimism.
Neither Jor El, nor Dru Zod liked the man very much. Ur was an arrogant snot; but he was an honest arrogant snot, and Zod supposed that had to count for something.
It was Jax Ur who had designed a way to get twelve thousand students aboard the colony ships without anyone being the wiser; an elaborate, and far more sophisticated version of a practical joke Jor El had done back when he was a child at the Academy.
Before anyone could say "Sul Van", the children-all of them-along with various and assorted proctors and instructors, most of Zod's team, and Jor El too, were all on the ships.
That was, of course, when the Council, and their Pro-Council underlings, got wind of the proceedings, and put everything on Lockdown; which meant the codes to give pilots access to the Helm wouldn't be given.
Dru Zod had still been planet-side, at the academy, when this particular cockup occurred…
"Dru!" Jor El had signaled. "They're blocking the access codes."
"I know," Zod had already let himself into the nearest Command Post. No one else was there yet, and his code was still good; which meant the Council didn't know he was on Jor's side yet.
"Think I can do something about that, Jor. Hang on…"
Zod locked the door, using every access code he had.
It would take a while for the authorities to break in; and that would give the General time to over-ride the Block Protocols.
Of course, there was a fly in the ointment; a rather big one as far as Zod was concerned.
He sighed.
"There's a problem, Jor," he Commed his friend. "I'm going to have to stay behind to do this right. If I leave the post, they'll get in and take control of the ships and bring them back. Someone has to stay behind and keep them away until you can engage the Phantom Drives; and I'm already here, so it's going to be me."
"Dru, I'm coming…"
"No, Jor. Stay up there and make your escape. Save what remains of our race."
"Dru…" there was anguish in Jor El's voice.
"Save…our…race," Zod repeated. "I trust you also managed to get the Codex too?"
"I did," now it was Jor who sighed. "I'll try to come back for you. I'll…"
"Save our race, Jor. Whatever happens to me will be worth it if you can do that."
Zod signed off, listening for the sound of forces at the sealed door.
It was only the work of a moment to slave all inputs to his personal access code-Jor El had taught him that particular hack decades ago.
Now, the Council's forces would have to break into this particular Command Post if they wanted to retake control of the colony ships.
Zod knew he was signing his death warrant by doing this. But he had meant what he had said to Jor El.
If my death will save my people, then it will be a good death…
Now, he could hear sounds behind the door.
Explosives, maybe?
Definitely explosives.
The shock wave hurled him into the nearest wall, knocking the breath out of his lungs.
But his rapidly graying-out vision recorded the sight of four colony-sized long-range ships entering the Phantom Zone.
The Council's forces had come too late after all; and Jor El was gone, along with all of Zod's people, twelve thousand children, several Academy proctors and Instructors, and the Codex, containing the Registry of Citizens.
We won…
Everything went dark after that.
Dru Zod awakened some five hours later, already convicted of High Treason.
He had assumed he would be executed for his role in helping Jor El. But Lor Em had decreed otherwise.
Banishment to the Phantom Zone. Three hundred years of somatic reconditioning.
Zod had shuddered upon hearing what his fate was to be.
Whatever returns after three hundred years, it won't be me…
But, still, if that was the case, then a form of death was still to be his fate.
Please be successful in what you're trying to do, Jor. I don't want to die, but dying for nothing is worst of all.
"Do you have any last words, Dru Zod?"
Zod shook his head at Lor Em's question.
If they expect me to plead for mercy, they're a pack of fools, the lot of them. No, best to get this over and done with.
So he said nothing as guards took him to the spot.
The initial process was purest agony; like fire and ice entering his legs, rising to swallow him up in frozen darkness.
And that should have been the end of it.
It wasn't.
His next memory was of the shocking sensation of the floor coming up to meet him, limbs all "pins and needles" as they twitched uncontrollably, breath rasping in his chest; gentle hands turning him over, grave eyes looking down at him.
The hands had been gloved in blue…