Chapter 13

Madame Dora Val-Lor sat at her large desk in her crystalline office on the fifth floor of the Kandor Administration Building. The walls of the large rectangular shaped office were adorned with brightly colored pieces of art. On one wall was a large video screen with a long table and chairs positioned beneath it. The table and chairs rested on a thick, light-blue rug. For more intimate meetings there was a smaller seating area with two white chairs and a small table. This area was located near the three windows in the office and was anchored on a thick blue rug.

A large portal, connecting Kandor to Brainiac's ship, stood at one end of the office. Dora's desk and two monitors were at the other end. One monitor continually scanned the city for natural disasters and this had proven to be extremely important on at least one occasion.

The Kandorians were entirely self-sufficient, but years ago when the Flame Forest caught on fire, the city had needed Brainiac's help in order to survive. The Kandorian fire squad had quickly put out the blaze, but smoke had continued to fill the air threatening all life in the city. That's when Dora used the second monitor to contact Brainac. He had accelerated the exchange of air in the city, for which, Dora and the citizens of Kandor were grateful.

Like most Kandorians, Dora despised Brainiac and did not relish asking him for help. Every Kandorian had lost loved ones the day he ripped their city from Krypton, shrunk it, and encased it aboard his ship. Most people felt a heavy sense of guilt at being alive while everyone else had perished with their planet.

Dora Val-Lor was half-way through her third term as Minister of Kandor. Each term consisted of four years. Serving as Minister for the past ten years hadn't always been easy, but Dora was extremely dedicated to her people and preserving their Kryptonian heritage.

She stood and stretched her arms. At fifty-two she was still attractive with a few lines around her eyes and mouth. Her tinted brown hair with copper highlights came to her shoulders in large soft curls.

Had it really been twenty-eight years since Brainiac had taken the city? Dora thought back to that day. She'd been a cheerful, carefree twenty-four year-old, happily married to Val-Lor a prominent scientist. The couple had just found out they would soon be parents and couldn't wait to share the joyous news with family and friends. However, they never had the chance, Kandor was ripped from the planet that night.

Val-Lor had never been able to accept life trapped in a bottle, always blaming himself for Kandor's fate, since he'd been part of the scientific team that created Brianiac. Years later, Val-Lor had helped Brainiac create the portals with stolen technology. The portals offered Val-Lor the possibility of escaping and freeing Kandor. Tragically, Brainiac killed Val-Lor when he attempted to use the ship's portal to seek help from an alien planet.

Dora lost her husband when their daughter Valia was only eight years old. A year later, Dora sought public office, eventually becoming a councilwoman. By the time Valia was sixteen, Dora had been elected Minister. Now at twenty-six, Valia was a technical expert working in the Kandorian Administration Building. When it came to technological matters, Dora often sought her daughter's advice.

As Minister, Dora always strove to keep hope alive in all Kandorians that one day they would be free and restored to normal size. Now today, after twenty-six long years, something had happened that made her believe that possibility could finally become a reality.

A Kryptonian crystal had been tossed through the portal. Dora had been working at her desk when she heard the soft hum indicating the portal had been activated. Surprised and wary, Dora had looked up in time to see the crystal sail out of the portal. It landed on the polished stone floor making a tinkling sound as it bounced along before sliding to a stop against the blue rug in the conference area.

Dora had immediately called her long-time friend, and Kandor's chief scientist, Thar-An. All she'd told him over the intercom was that there had been an interesting development and it involved the portal. Thar-An had rushed to Dora's office where he'd found her holding the crystal.

They both knew it was Kryptonian, but wondered where it had come from and why it had been tossed into Kandor? Thar-An had taken the crystal to his lab to hopefully download any information it contained. Of course, he would take precautions — it could be a trap.

It had been thirty minutes since Thar-An left with the crystal. Dora paced the smooth floors waiting anxiously to hear from her friend.

Suddenly, Thar-An burst into the room, slightly out of breath, and highly excited. Dora rushed to him. Thar-An grasped Dora's arms and smiled broadly. "It's unbelievable! The crystal is a recording from Jor-El. He made it for his son, Kal-El. It contains massive amounts of information on the known galaxies."

For a moment Dora just stared at her friend, trying to comprehend this news. Finally she said, "Jor-El? His son? Jor-El didn't have a son. It must be a fake . . . or a trap."

"No, no," Thar-An assured her. "I didn't come to you with the information until I was sure. It is from Jor-El. He sent his infant son, Kal-El, to a planet called Earth." Thar-An thought back to his life on Krypton. Pointing a finger, he continued, "I remember him studying a distance solar system when we worked together all those years ago on the Science Council. From the recordings on the crystal, it seems Jor-El knew of Krypton's impending destruction. That's why he placed his son, Kal-El, in a spacecraft headed for Earth moments before Krypton exploded."

Dora gazed up Thar-An's face flushed with excitement A million thoughts raced through her mind. The most important one being what had happened to Kal-El? Did he make it to Earth and if so, was he still alive?

Like Thar-An, Dora had known Jor-El and his wife Lara, on Krypton. She had met them at a variety of official functions she and her husband Val-Lor had attended. During the years trapped under the dome, Thar-An had spoken highly of Jor-El's work on the Science Council saying, "He was one of the most brilliant men I have ever known."

Jor-El had been Krypton's foremost scientist and physicist. Actually, at the time of Krypton's destruction, the House of El had a long and distinguished heritage of achievements in both science and exploration. And now, Dora wondered if the House of El could somehow rescue Kandor. She looked at the portal and back at Thar-An. She asked, "Why have we received this crystal now? What happened to Kal-El? Is it possible he threw the crystal through the portal?"

"I don't know," Thar-An said just as the portal's hum filled the air. Wide-eyed they both anxiously stared at the large ring structure.