Man of Steel: The Official Movie Novelization (5 page)

He nodded at Kelex, who prepared the skull for the procedure.

“Uploading the Codex, sir.”

A holographic readout confirmed the data link. Jor-El activated the carrier beam and a shimmering blue ray passed through the Codex on its way to Kal-El’s heart. The process disintegrated the Codex, breaking it down into digitized information which was then transmitted directly into the baby’s bloodstream. Kal-El gazed wide-eyed at the pretty lights, unharmed by the painless procedure.

It was over in a matter of moments. No trace of the Codex remained, save for the data infused into the unknowing Kryptonian child.

Almost done,
Jor-El thought. He cut off the beam and climbed out of the surgical gear. Crossing the floor of the observatory, he retrieved a customized command key from a magnetic field. The key was a short black spike small enough to be held in the palm of his hand. The crest of the House of El was inscribed on its triangular head. He plugged the key into a matching slot in the cradle, so that it would accompany Kal-El on his voyage across the cosmos.

“Sir,”
Kelex said.
“Hostile forces are nearly upon us
—”

The perimeter alarms grew ever louder and more strident. On the robot’s dimensional display, the blinking triangles were practically on top of the Citadel.

Zod’s forces,
Jor-El wondered,
or the Sapphire Guard?
Both factions would stop at nothing to retrieve the Codex.

“Put up the defenses!” he ordered, silently chastising himself for not doing so earlier. If he had not been so preoccupied with Lara and the imminent departure of their child...

On the display, a protective force field enveloped the Citadel. Jor-El had little expectation that the field would be able to repel the invaders for long, but he intended to make good use of the time remaining to them.

He watched intently as a biostasis gel—similar in composition to that used in the embryonic sacs back at the Genesis Chambers—filled the cradle, flooding over little Kal-El. A transparent enclosure formed over the module, sealing the baby inside an artificial womb.

He would never touch his son again.

Then the Citadel came under attack. Muted explosions shook the curved walls of the observatory. A punishing barrage tested the defenses, which appeared unequal to the task.

Small wonder
, Jor-El mused. It had been generations since any household on Krypton had faced such an assault. The defenses were old and outdated, like the rest of Krypton.

Lara gasped in alarm as shock waves rattled the chamber. The surgical robot framework toppled over, smashing onto the floor. Jor-El glanced anxiously at the starcraft, suspended over the cradle module, but its supports proved sturdy enough to hold it safely in place above the womb.

Cracks spread across the vaulted ceiling, showering the observatory with sediment and debris. A buttress rib buckled alarmingly, while the floor vibrated beneath their feet. If he didn’t know better, he’d swear that Krypton was already coming apart.

“Outer defenses are falling!”
Kelex said. The force field flickered erratically on his display. Jor-El knew that the enemy would soon breach the Citadel. Time was running out. All they had left was minutes.

He peered again through the transparent enclosure at his son, slumbering now within the gel-filled womb. Kal-El was blissfully oblivious to the chaos raining down upon them.

“Sleep well, my son,” Jor-El whispered. “Our hopes and dreams travel with you.”

Lara joined him in front of the module. She wrapped her arms around him.

“Finish the launch, Lara,” he instructed. “I’ll hold them off for as long as I can.”

The Citadel shuddered beneath another assault. Jor-El doubted the force-field could withstand any more strikes. He embraced his wife, sharing one last precious kiss. Her lips forgave him for taking her baby from her.

“I love you,” she said.

“And I, you.” Together, they gazed at their only child. “He’ll make it, Lara. He’ll build a better world than ours.” Blaring sirens made it impossible to forget the danger at their door. Tearing himself away from her, he exited the observatory and sprinted through the Citadel to the armory, where his battle armor awaited. The gleaming gold shell fitted over his durable blue skinsuit. His sacred crest was emblazoned on the chest plate. A bulky plasma cannon was attached to his right arm.

Kelex prepared himself for combat, as well. The floating robot lowered himself into the docking cradle atop a large armored war-bot. Humanoid in design, the robotic chassis stood at least a head taller than Jor-El, once Kelex had settled into the larger mechanism’s neckpiece.

His mainframe now served as the war-bot’s “head.” The gilded metal chassis mimicked Kryptonian anatomy, right down to sculpted steel muscles. Servomotors whirred as Kelex tested his powerful new limbs. Plasma blasters powered up in his mechanical arms.

Fully equipped, they raced toward the Citadel’s upper entrance, where even now they could hear the enemy advancing toward the gates. Concussive blasts slammed into the landing bay doors from the outside. Solid grapheme plates began to buckle under the assault.

Jor-El and Kelex took up defensive positions before the door. He wished they had drilled for this more often, but the Citadel of the House of El had never come under siege in Jor-El’s lifetime. He had always counted on Krypton’s security forces to keep him safe from riots, insurrections, or invasions. Indeed, Zod had been brutally effective at keeping the peace for years—before he turned against the Council.

A titanic blast blew open the doors, filling the landing bay with smoke and debris. Jor-El and Kelex didn’t wait for the invaders to enter, but opened fire immediately, driving the attackers back with a blistering salvo of plasma fire. They rushed forward to defend the breached archway, even as the intruders regrouped on the open terrace beyond. Black uniforms and armor identified them as Zod’s partisans. Jor-El nodded grimly. It seemed that his old friend had come calling.

Taking cover beneath the archway, he assessed the scene. Rebel gunships, encrusted with armor, flared in overhead. There was Zod, leaning from the open bay of the lead ship, directing the assault. His harsh voice carried across the distance between them.

“Concentrate fire on the main doors!”

J
or-El and Kelex fought to repel the invaders. An overeager gunship came too close and Jor-El brought it down with a well-aimed blast to its propulsion unit. The sky-boat crashed into the rocky cliff beneath the terrace. Flaming wreckage cascaded down onto the grasslands hundreds of lengths below.

Frightened wildlife fled in panic. A herd of Rondors stampeded away from the fighting.

The rebels retaliated by unleashing a devastating series of blasts at Jor-El’s position. Despite his heavy armor, he rolled out of the way of the bursts, but their combined force was enough to bring down the entire archway, which collapsed on top of him. An avalanche of pulverized carbon and silica smashed him to the floor, burying him beneath heaps of rubble.

His armor shielded him from serious injury, but he found himself trapped, unable to move. Grunting with exertion, he tried to free himself, but the piled debris was too heavy. No Kryptonian could lift such a load.

“Hold on, sir!”
Kelex called out.
“I’m coming.”

The robot rushed to his aid. Mechanical limbs cleared away the heavy rubble. A steel hand took hold of Jor-El’s, pulling the trapped scientist free. Powdered silica clung to his face and armor as he regained his footing behind the fallen remains of the archway. This was at least twice that Kelex had saved him from Zod’s soldiers, he mused.

If only I’d had flesh-and-blood allies who were so reliable...

They were fighting a losing battle, however. An armored gunship touched down on the terrace, disgorging dozens of enemy soldiers. Jor-El knew that he and Kelex couldn’t possibly repel them all. Within minutes, the Citadel would be overrun by Zod’s forces. The Sword of Rao was at his throat.

No,
he thought.
Lara needs more time. Our child is not yet safe.

Kelex’s “head” pivoted in his direction. His servomotors whirred into readiness.

“It’s been an honor, sir,”
the robot said, and Jor-El knew what he intended to do.

“Kelex, no!”

“I’m not important,”
came the response.
“None of us are. The only thing that matters is saving the child.”

The robot reached back with both mechanical hands and unlatched the outer casings on the obliques of his artificial musculature, exposing a pair of plasma grenades mounted to his inner chassis. He activated the grenades, which beeped and blinked ominously. Then he swiveled away from Jor-El.

“He is our future!”

Dashing out from behind the heaps of rubble, Kelex ran straight at the gunship and its crew. His robotic limbs carried him across the terrace at astonishing speed. Panicked soldiers, recognizing a suicide run, fired frantically at the charging war-bot. A plasma burst blew off Kelex’s right arm, but he kept on coming.

He sprang over the heads of the rebels and into very gullet of the ship, landing amidst the assault team. Doomed men scrambled away from him.

Abruptly the grenades went off, blowing apart the robot, the ship, and the surrounding soldiers. Jor-El watched wide-eyed as the scene transformed into an explosion of flying plasma and shrapnel. He ducked his head to avoid being tagged by the molten metal.

As the debris settled, smoke rose from the gutted remains of the gunship.

Ever loyal, Kelex had destroyed himself for the House of El.

Jor-El resolved not to let that sacrifice go to waste. He retreated back into the Citadel, hoping that the rubble and burning gunships would slow Zod and his renegades long enough for Lara to complete the launch.

Hurry, my love,
he thought.
Zod is coming.

* * *

The cradle module ascended into the waiting starcraft. An open hatchway sealed behind it, putting another layer of separation between Lara and her son. She stood at the launch controls, accompanied by Kelor.

“Phantom drives are coming online, mistress,”
the ’bot announced.

Lara nodded and initiated the launch sequence. Despite the Citadel-shaking combat raging outside, and fears for her husband’s safety, she forced herself to focus on the task at hand.

She and Jor-El had been partners in this endeavor since the beginning, ever since his research revealed the truth of Krypton’s impending doom. An accomplished scholar and historian in her own right, she had gladly volunteered to give birth to Kal-El as their ancestors had done. Yet the entire time, she had known that they would not raise him as their own.

She had just never expected it would be so hard.

The starcraft, now bearing little Kal-El, rotated into position. Vapors vented from the engines as the vessel powered up its thrusters. Biomechanical umbilical cords detached themselves from the craft.

The realization that she was sending her child away from her, forever, was like a dagger to the heart. Chances were she would never even know if he arrived safely at the primitive world so many light-years away. Nor could she guess what lonely fate awaited him there.

I have to do this,
she reminded herself.
We have no choice.

So she keyed in the penultimate sequence. High above her, the vast dome of the observatory began to open...

* * *

Zod’s personal transport touched down on the terrace, not far from the flaming remains of the advance ship. Exiting his craft, he scowled at the wreckage. He had watched as the events unfolded. That suicidal robot had cost him many loyal soldiers.

Damn you, Jor-El,
he thought angrily.
This is unnecessary. Why couldn’t you work with me to save our people... and restore Krypton’s greatness?

Flanked by Faora and Nam-Ek, he marched briskly toward the collapsed archway. His dark eyes scanned the battleground, and he remained on guard for traps. As far as he knew, Jor-El had few allies these days, but a smart soldier never underestimated the opposition.
Even when the enemy is your oldest friend.

Monitoring the comms, Faora lifted a hand to her ear. Her brow furrowed pensively.

“General, we’ve identified an engine ignition within the Citadel—”

An engine?
Zod tried to make sense of this new development.
What in Rao’s name is Jor-El up to now?
His forces had intercepted the alarms from the Genesis Chamber. Could it be that Jor-El was attempting to escape with the stolen Codex?

That could not be permitted. Zod had his own plans for the Codex—and for the future of the Kryptonian race.

“Hold this platform, commander!” he ordered, leaving Faora behind as he quickened his pace toward the entrance. Avid soldiers were already clearing away the rubble that blocked the way. Zod led a contingent into the building, which he knew well in happier days.

The unmistakable thrum of engines drew him to Jor-El’s well-equipped observatory, where he found his old friend standing alongside a compact vessel that appeared designed for interstellar travel. Its thrusters pulsed with pure light.