The Gods Must Be Crazy
Written by Amazonia V
Chapter 29
Superman, Nightwing and Wonder Woman were in the Fortress of Solitude. It was one of the very few times that Nightwing had come here and he looked around in amazement. It was a vast cavernous place and filled with artefacts of different worlds and civilizations.
Superman had obviously used Kryptonian technology to design the interiors of the Fortress. There were some rooms that seemed to lead off, one from the other in this cavern that seemed without end. Other rooms with all their contents seemed to be minimized and were displayed as icons on a large door. Nightwing watched as Superman pressed one of the icons and a room filled the space beyond the door. He could only imagine the rooms that the different graphics of the individual icons represented. It was mind-boggling to say the least.
It was Superman's control room for interactions with inhabitants of the Phantom Zone. Before Superman activated the Phantom Zone projector, he turned to Wonder Woman and said simply, "Now."
Nightwing watched as Wonder Woman took the extra precaution of looping her lasso about Superman and holding on to the end. They had agreed that Superman could not expose himself to the control of the Phantom Zone inhabitants, if indeed this theory was true.
Superman flicked a button and stepped back.
Nightwing and Wonder Woman watched closely.
At first, the screen displayed no image – it was blank.
Then the ghostly spectres of the inhabitants of the Phantom Zone appeared on the screen.
Old timers – banished to the Zone before Krypton had exploded, more recent Kryptonians who had turned rogue and were captured by Superman years ago and confined to the Zone, and the most recent of all of them – the New Kryptonians who had been only recently banished to the Zone.
Some were friends – like Zod's son who had had a brief stay with Clark and Lois, Chris Kent and Mon El.
As they gathered in front of the projector, they began to make wild gesticulations at the trio on the other side of the screen. Then their faces began to work convulsively and their mouths formed sentences.
"What's happening?" asked Nightwing.
"They are talking, but I haven't yet switched on the sound. I'm waiting for one more person to join them," said Superman.
Just as he spoke, a young man walked up to the projector and smiled. It was a smile that made the hair rise on the nape of Nightwing's neck. Something about his smile was so familiar.
Diana watched closely too. She saw the young man at the same time that Nightwing did. And she noted that his eyes were a brilliant blue – clear and bright.
Superman moved forward and flicked the switch for sound.
"Hello, Superman," the young man said, speaking clearly, his voice being picked up by the projector with the other voices fading into the background. And he smiled again.
"Kern," Superman bit out. "I see the Zone has been treating you well."
"Yes, I don't miss Earth at all," Kern responded, with another smile. "You've been kind enough to send me a whole lot of new friends and the stories they tell me are very entertaining."
Mon El watched and listened to the interaction between Kern and Superman. He wanted to help in whatever way he could, but how and what?
"You don't look very well, Superman. And why are you all tied up? Who is that young man with you? And that really sexy lady? Are you playing some kinky games and need some ideas from me?" Kern let his eyes roam over Diana's body slowly.
Superman felt his anger build, but he needed to keep his emotions under control. "I know what you've been up to, Kern," he said, "and you need to stop. It's obvious Luthor is working with you."
Luthor! Of course! The same thought struck Nightwing and Wonder Woman at the same time and they exchanged meaningful glances at each other. He had to be involved.
Kern laughed – a sinister laugh. "Good try, Superman. Tell you what…Send me that delightful woman to help me pass the time, and I'll think about stopping. Oh, the things that I could teach her."
Superman calmly said, "Where's the Jewel Kryptonite, Kern? Tell me where it is."
"Hah! Not very polite, are you? You don't say please."
"Kern, I don't believe that there's any part of me in you. How could you and Connor be so different?"
"That loser. He just sucked up to you and you adopted him and threw me aside like some garbage. I was saved by Luthor."
"That's not true. I didn't even know you existed until you attacked Batman."
"Who died in any case. If you had left me alone, he would have been dead earlier. You wasted time."
Superman swallowed the anguish and the anger that came to the fore at this remarkably callous statement.
Mon El pushed himself in front of the projector. "Superman," he said, "I can help. When I was on Earth and you were away at New Krypton, I realized that there is another way to communicate with inhabitants of the Phantom Zone. While we need this projector to enter or exit the Zone, we're not limited to it any more to just talk and be heard."
Superman was startled. "Why didn't you tell me, Mon El?"
"There was no time. All of the events happened so fast and I thought that there would be no need. But I've seen Kern and some others use this method of communication."
"How?"
"The communication network set up by New Krypton and that has responders on Earth is made up tenkane – the same Kryptonian material used to make this projector. Zod and Allura used some redundant space craft to obtain tenkane. The network responds to voice commands anywhere within the earth's stratosphere and you can communicate with any Kryptonian anywhere. It was necessary for such a device because so many of your compatriots could fly – the inventors received the Science Coucil's Award, in fact."
"How's that I don't know anything about it?"
"You were never in the Science Guild or you would have known about it. Your job was always in the Militia Guild and since you never needed to, you may never have realized that Kryptonians could use it to talk to each other on Earth too. It's a telepathic channel and can only be activated by a Kryptonian."
Superman's mind processed this information rapidly. He recalled what he knew of Kryptonian history and geography. Tenkane had been mined in the Jewel Mountains on Krypton. In fact, tenkane was the Kryptonian name for the jewel like element that had been mined. Tenkane was Jewel Kryptonite.
Kern saw the realization dawn on Superman's face and laughed out loud. "It is so easy, Superman. You took so long to realize it. A few days more and you would have been completely de-stabilized. Completely mine."
"Explain."
"So simple. Even a Terran child would understand. I used to activate the tenkane from the Zone. I'm Kryptonian, remember, thanks to you. I would begin the process of controlling you with my thoughts, of bending you to my will. But you resisted at first. But you were weakening. It was so easy to take control of you, of your mind…a little longer and you would have been unable to think coherently, to respond as an individual. You would soon have been like a pet beast, ready to do whatever I wanted."
Nightwing turned his back to the scene for a minute and activated the JLA communicator.
Green Lantern was on duty and answered. "Yes, Nightwing?"
"We need your help, GL. Can you quickly use your power ring to find any substance made from Kryptonian material, it's called tenkane and has a jewel like look and feel? Find it and collect it in a lead lined box for Superman, please."
"On it. Be right back."