Chapter 9

She reached up and kissed me. It felt real? What the... ! I fell back on the bed.

“You were floating Kal, just like when we were putting up the decorations ... what does this mean?”

“I don’t know, go back to your own bed, please. We’ll talk about this in the morning,” I said.

“But...”

“No buts, now move your pretty one back to your room, please?” I said.

She turned and said, “You ... like my butt?”

“Go!” I said, as loud as I dare.

I woke up, wondering exactly what had happened to cause me to float. It was different then the evening I floated up and put on the tree topper. This was a warm night for late December, at 57 degrees, in our part of Kansas. Could that have had something to do with it?

I got up, showered and changed and went outside to start my chores. I hadn’t seen Kara yet that morning, so I went back inside and found no one. Everybody was gone! I looked and the truck was still there.

It seemed odd, so I got into the truck and drove into Smallville. All the usual lights were on, but I didn’t see any people—not anyone? I drove up and down Main Street, without encountering a single soul.

I went back to the farm, noticing an orange glow from behind the barn door. I stopped the truck, got out and walked into the barn. The glow was coming from where I had buried the space ship. From underneath, the ground!

In less than a minute, I dug up the ship like a bog unburying a bone, taking off Mom’s homemade, large red, blue and yellow blanket, to find the source of the glow.

Dad had mentioned that there was a lever that opened the top, where Kara and I had been stowed aboard.

Nothing ventured—nothing gained!

I pressed the lever and the silhouette of a man’s head and shoulders appeared before me. I couldn’t clearly see his face, but he immediately started to clearly speak...

“Kal-El, I am your father. My name is Jor-El and your mother’s name is Lara.”

“You, and my brother’s daughter Kara, were placed in this vessel. The trip from Kryptonopolis, Krypton, your home city and planet, in the Arancione Galaxy of the Fornax constellation, took 2,341 earth days. During the voyage, neither of you aged. Commencing with the opening of this vessel, both you and your cousin began to mature, as do all beings on planet Earth. It has been 4,566 days since you arrived on Earth.”

Hmmm, so the day we arrived was our birthday, I thought to myself.

“There was a civil war on our planet Krypton, causing Liquid Sonar Bombs to be used. So many were used, that the contents seeped deep into the planet. After five cycles of our orange star, known on Krypton as PortoKali, a chain reaction began ... Through sensitive equipment I placed, just below the surface of our planet, I saw it register, while the elders of our planet refused to admit that, anything was happening.”

“‘Regular seismic activity, ‘ many of them said.”

“I tried, with great futility, to explain what was indeed happening and the extended El family gathered, for a discussion of what to do. We didn’t have time to build a large enough vessel for all of us to head to our sister planet Gadolinium, a mere light year away.”

“What we did have time to build, with my family and my brothers’ helping as well, was a much smaller rocket, to hold the youngest of each of the two El families. My brother’s family consisted of Zor-El, my brother – his wife, Alura in-Ze, who died giving birth to their only daughter, Kara, also having two older sons, Tar Zor-El and Xor Zor-El. You had an older brother, Knor-el.”

“During an earlier time, Zor-El and I were at odds with one another, but he had come to the same conclusion I had, and brought his family from Argo City, one of the largest cities on the planet, having first lived in Kandor, where they were all exiled for many years.”

“It was decided that Kal-El and my brother’s daughter Kara Zor-El, though a newborn, would be placed in this vessel. It has unlimited life support, as the two of you hurtled through the universe towards the only suitable planet in the barred spiral galaxy, 100,000 light years across, called the Milky-Way galaxy ... the planet simply called ... Earth.”

“You will grow up to assimilate with earthlings, because of our common humanoid characteristics, you will look like any other human. Due to the gravity and degree of magnitude that the Earth’s yellow star emits, you, near your 4,000^th day there, may start to exhibit the effects of this ‘star.’ Likely, before your 6,000^th day, most of your expected ‘skills’ will have begun to surface.”

“My brother expects that a number of things will likely occur, during this time, due to this star. Among them, are, the strength of fifty earthmen, the adeptness to leap great lengths – possibly flying above the many of your civilizations. These and many other skills will come to you, my son, and Kara as well. You can become a god, if you so desire. Nothing is pre-ordained; your choices will make you who you become.

“These people are weak compared to what you will become. Nevertheless, you could also become a wonder to behold, with the respect of all those who meet you. Be a leader of men, not over them! The choice is yours!”

“Lastly, please protect my brother’s daughter ... she is equally destined for all the great things, as are you. Treat her well and treat your new planet as your own. Long before you receive this message, all the citizens of Krypton will have perished. Do not let this to have happened for naught. Use your expected Heat-Vision skill to destroy this capsule.”

“Protect your cousin, protect those you love, and protect ... as the last Son of Krypton!”

He vanished! He knew - in advance I would get Heat Vision? Real flying, Wow – wait until Kara hears about this. I closed the opening, put the blanket back on top, and filled in the dirt, covering the vessel. I left the barn, put the truck where I got it and went inside and fell back to asleep.

Kara came into my room, waking me up. “Kal, Kal, wake up. Something’s happened!” I sprang from my bed, putting on some shoes, out of habit, and followed my sister to the barn. Man, that was a gnarly dream I had. I wonder what’s going on?

The barn door was open; Mom and Dad were just inside and Kara pulled me inside.

“Look!” she said, directing me to see the orange glow from below the surface of the earth like I had seen in my dream. I dug it up, again, and said, turning to my family, “I had a dream last night...” explaining step by step, what I had done and most of what I had heard.

“Kal,” my father said to me, “Are you sure it was a dream?”

“Dad,” I responded, “I’m not very confident of anything, at the moment. I need a shower and some food, then I’ll tell you the rest of the details.”

Thirty minutes later, I had hotcakes, eggs and bacon in front of me.

“I think—I’ll have a dream like that more often,” I said between bites, “If it means getting all of this wonderful food from my mother and sister.”

K sat down next to me, watching me eat. The smile on her face was brilliant. Dad was chuckling and Mom served up everybody else to their hearts content, except Dad.

When finished, I explained the lineage of Kara and myself, telling Mom that her hunch was apparently right, about us being ‘cousins.’ I filled in the details, explaining that the yellow sun was the catalyst for my powers.