Chapter 8: Fortress of Solitude
(Later at Tanner Farm, night…)
The barn stands silhouetted against the night sky. Slowly tracks toward it, passing through the door.
(Later at Barn, night…)
Pitch dark inside. A green light emanates somewhere from beneath a mound of hay. The light seems to throb as it glows, as if calling out for something or someone...
(Later in Jackson and Max's room…)
Jackson is asleep, suddenly his eyes open.
Suddenly there was a whirring sound and wolf howls.
As Jackson sits up, looks to the window of the wolf howls. He looks around, walks, and looks to the window of the barn. As Jackson turned to Max asleep and turned his head to the barn…
(Later at Barn…)
Jackson pulled the back door open. Jackson was fully dressed, emerged from the house, and crossed to the barn.
Jackson enters, the spaceship-like ship crosses to the mound of hay which throbs with the green light. Digging and pushing the hay aside, he uncovers the geode-like module which brought him to Earth. The module glows brightly, lit by something from within. Jackson stares hard at it, his eyes changing in color and consistency…
Seen through Jackson's x-ray vision which cuts through the solid surface of the module: a Green Crystal throbs inside, resting on the red, yellow, and blue blankets.
Jackson kneels, opens the module, picks up the crystal, stares into it deeply, eyes widening in the eerie, pulsating light. Jackson smiled slightly at Green Crystal…
(Later at Tanner Farm…)
The sun starts to set in the distance. DJ and her family stand over the kitchen stove in the early morning, bacon sizzling in the pan, a pot of hot coffee steaming nearby. She turns her head slightly, calls out.
"Boys, get up." DJ said.
Her sons and family downstairs and breakfast all sit on the desk.
"Jackson? Are you going to sleep all day?" DJ asked.
DJ looked up to Jackson in his room.
"Jackson, come on. Get up." DJ said.
DJ stops, and notices something out the kitchen window. Pushes in through the window: In the distant wheatfield across the road stands the motionless figure of Jackson.
Jackson stands quietly, immobile, staring north as the late morning sun hits the side of his face. The look is trance-like as if some force were pulling at him. There is a rustle in the wheat behind him. He does not turn…
"I have to leave." Jackson said.
DJ, Max, Tommy Jr, Danny, Jesse, Becky, Stephanie, Nicky, Alex, and Joey enter the frame, stop, look at Jackson thoughtfully, full of emotion.
"We knew this time would come. We both knew it…from the night we found you." DJ said.
Jackson turns now, faces her. He speaks flatly, trying to avoid breaking down.
"I saved the little girl Hayley yesterday…and she said that she'd be happy to help out from now on." Jackson said.
Jackson was silent, nodded, and exhaled sharply.
"Mother…" Jackson said emotionally.
"I know, son. I know." DJ said.
They face each other for the final time, all emotion both at a sudden loss for words.
"Do you know where you're headed?" DJ asked.
Jackson watched…
"North." Jackson said.
DJ's eyes glaze over. She manages a brave smile.
"Remember us, son. Always remember us." DJ said.
Jackson hugged DJ and his adopted family. Unable to restrain themselves any longer, they reach out, collapse into a tight hug…Everyone watches North…
(Later at the North Pole…)
A flat, desolate plain, off to one side is a huge outcropping of rock jutting out of the barren, snow-covered landscape. A blizzard rages. Reveal Jackson, the rucksack on the ground beside him. The wind rips across the plain. Jackson looks around, seems to be in the process of selecting a specific area. He marks its perimeters with heat vision, burning deep lines into the snow and ice. Once the boundaries are drawn, Jackson concentrates on the area within. The entire mass of snow begins to melt away as huge flames shoot around the gigantic excavation.
(Meanwhile…)
An enormous crater has been carved out of the rock and ice. Jackson stands in the center, reaches into his rucksack, places the green stone on the ground. Climbing back quickly to the edge, he focuses into the crater. As his heat vision hits the stone a crystalline foundation begins to solidify and expand. Green radiation glows all around the excavation site and a wall is formed.
Another burst of energy intensifies and constructs a second side joined at a right angle. In the bright cone of green light, multi-colored molecules explode and expand into a third impregnable wall. Through the blaze of sparkling light this wall increases in size, spreads out to cover the fourth remaining side.
Jackson steps back to look with awe: The Fortress of Solitude is complete. It rises up in the northern landscape, its materials completely harmonious, the white opaque crystalline blending ingeniously into the surrounding countryside…
(Later at the Fortress of Solitude...)
The tiny figure of Jackson enters the Fortress, looking up at a multi-leveled white fantasy. Stabbing spurs of crystal cut across the levels at a severe angle. The decor is spartan, minimal. The central area with its complicated memory crystal energy banks where Superboy will communicate with his dead father is overlooked by a series of different levels which lead off to hidden corridors, rooms, etc. The entire dazzling interior is strongly reminiscent of what we have seen earlier on Krypton...
A crystal bench sits next to the energy bank which is lined with rows of smaller glowing crystals. Jackson approaches mesmerized, knowing what he must do but unsure of how and why. He reaches out for the first crystal, places it inside a mechanism in the energy bank, takes his seat on the bench, waits, suddenly...
To Be Continued…
