Story adapted from Superman #119
This story takes place in the universe of Earth-2, in the early 50s, shortly after Superman met an alien spaceman named Halk Karr who claimed to come from Thoron, another planet orbiting Ra, the sun of Krypton. It happens a month or so before the Wizard casts the spell that will cause Clark Kent to forget his Superman identity for almost a year.
I did not write this story. I opened a comic book and copied the story, using the dialog and the art to guide me. It was written by Edmund Hamilton, a great science fiction writer, and illustrated by Wayne Boring, one of the most famous Superman artists. What I did do is change a few things (Daily Planet to Daily Star, Perry White to George Taylor) and add a couple of lines of text to make this story work in the Earth-2 universe of the 5 Earths project. If you've read Superman #119 you will probably wonder why I transcribed it - but not all of the folks who will read this also have access to comic books from 1953!
When Superman is on Xenon or alone with Kell Orr, the characters in this story are speaking Kryptonese and you are reading the closest English equivanets to what they actually said. When they are on Earth, they are speaking English.
Part 1: Krypton's Twin
Clark Kent rushed into the newsroom of the Daily Star, excitedly waving a teletype printout. "This news about a distant planet that an astronomer discovered - it's amazing!"
Most of the other reporters in the newsroom ignored him, but Lois Lane responded wonderingly. "Oh, Clark, what's exciting about a planet a zillion miles away? There's no story in that!"
Clark left the room and made his way to the roof. After using his super vision to insure that no one was watching, he opened his jacket and shirt to reveal the famous blue, red and yellow uniform of Superman. 'I couldn't tell Lois, or she'd start suspecting again that I'm Superman' he thought as he changed. 'But that planet sounds like a duplicate of Krypton. I'm going to find out about this!'
The Man of Steel flashed across country to Mount Wilton Observatory in California, and only seconds later was talking to famed astronomer Alvin Hubble. After Superman told the immensely interested astronomer about Krypton, Hubble explained the newly-developed stellar occlusion technique which had allowed him to discover the new world. "From what you've told me" Hubble commented in astonishment "this new planet is almost its twin world, except that it's smaller in size."
"Another Krypton!" the Man of Steel was wistful. "I've got to visit that world."
After some further discussion with Hubble, the Man of Tomorrow rocketed into the sky. After a shortcut through a spacewarp, he closely observed the new planet as he approached. From space, the colors of water, land, vegetation and the thin sheath of atmosphere around a world have a distinctive set of colors; no world's spectrum exactly matches any other world's... except this world's colors matched those of Krypton as closely as Superman's photographic memory and super senses could determine. 'My native world exploded long ago - but I have a strange feeling that I'm going home to it now. Home, to Krypton!' he thought in eager anticipation.
He entered the atmosphere and spotted a mountain range. Most of the peaks were normal, but several of them glittered like diamonds of all the colors of the rainbow. Nearby, he floated over a forest of mostly red colored vegetation, with a considerable population of large animals. Many of the plants looked familiar, and at least one of the animals looked exactly like the thought beasts of Krypton. 'It IS just like Krypton!' he thought wistfully, and then he spotted a super emergency. 'But that volcano - its pouring out lava and has scared those beasts into stampede towards that man down there. Better stop them...'
As he dove to the ground, he observed the strange behavior of the beasts attempting to escape. A golden skinned giant, which looked a lot like a fat Chinese dragon with no wings, stuck its head into the ground. A small green lizard which grew suddenly in size and a darker green beast like a hippo with a longer, thin neck. Meanwhile, a dark haired man wearing a red, yellow and green costume ran from the rumbling, spitting mountain. 'What strange animals! That one's drilling into the ground to hide from the lava. That 'balloon beast' is puffing up in fright - and that other one is broadcasting cold waves against the heat.' That was interesting. 'Hmm... Maybe I can use him...'
As the lone man watched in astonishment, the mighty Man of Steel quickly picked up the big monster and flew back towards the erupting volcano. 'The cold he broadcasts will freeze the red hot lava and keep it from reaching that man,' Superman thought as the red glow of the lava started to fade. 'I'll round up the other panicky beasts and then take care of that volcano.' With the lava flow temporarily staunched in this direction, the Kryptonian hero turned his attention to a more permanent solution and flew to the volcano's mouth. He bashed into the rim of the crater, creating a channel down the far side of the moutain, to an area where the lava flow would be less damaging. 'Making an opening in this other side will let the lava flow down onto that stony area, instead of into the forest. Now I want to talk to that man...' Suiting action to words, landed near the surprised native - and when he landed, he received a stunning surprise of his own as the man addressed him in perfect Kryptonese!
"That was a mighty deed, stranger - to stop that eruption that frightened the animals in the preserve. Welcome to Xenon. My name is Zoll Orr. I'm a scientist."
Most stunning of all was Zoll Orr's appearance! 'Why, this man - he's a double of my father, Jor-L of Krypton!' Superman thought, as he stammered a response. "And mine is Superman."
At that moment, Zoll recognized a flying car approaching them. It landed, and an attractive young woman stepped out of the car and approached the two men. Before she reached them, Zoll gave a warning to his new friend. "Careful what you say, Superman. That young lady is an inquisitive reporter."
Superman wasn't quite as stunned by her appearance; he was starting to expect duplicates by now. This lady would be a twin of Lois Lane if her hair had been black instead of brown. She quickly introduced herself.
"So your name's Superman? I'm Vana Vair, of Telestereo News. Tell me, who are you and how did you get such super powers?"
'Oh, no!' was Superman's immediate thought. 'Not another pest like Lois Lane on this world!' Instead of answering her questions, he swept up Zoll Orr and leaped into the sky. "I'll - er - take you home fast, Zoll Orr!" he stammered.
She shouted after him "Wait, Superman! I must get a story on how you took care of that eruption!" But it was too late; the two men were now out of hearing range.
Soon they were flying over Xenonopolis, the capital city of Xenon, located on the coast of a great ocean. The city consisted of futuristic spires and mile-high buildings, and reminded Superman of his world of origin. "That giant suspension bridge crosses the OCEAN! What a city - it's like the city of Krypton where I was born!"
Zoll Orr was stunned. "Did you say Krypton? Why, that's amazing!" After then had landed and entered Zoll's home, he explained his amazement. "We have a legend that our world Xenon was once a moon of a greater world called Krypton, but that Xenon spun out of its orbit and left Krypton forever."
He paused thoughtfully. <
Superman was fascinated.
<<"We lost our sister worlds and our original star but we lived. Some time later, the wandering rogue encountered another giant red star, the star Xenon now orbits, and for the second time in recorded history our planet again lost and gained a star. We named our new star Roatun, or 'new Rao', and we have been here ever since. We still maintain the Kryptopnian civilization; our teaching machines help us preserve the language and culture; We've never forgotten our Kryptonian origins, but to most Xenonians, the memories of Krypton have faded and become nothing more than distant legends.">>
Some time later, Zell's wife Vara and his son Kell came home, and the two men stood for introductions. "This is my wife and my son, Kell Orr. Why, you two look a lot alike!"
Vara closely resembled Superman's mother, Lara, so Superman wasn't all that surprised by his own resemblance to Kell Orr. 'Yes, Kell Orr is just as I would be if I'd grown up on Krypton,' he thought. The close resemblance of his new friends to his Kryptonian family helped him feel at home, and as continued getting acquainted, Superman found himself recounting his own life's story.
"Yes, I was born on Krypton, but before it perished from an atomic explosion in its core, my father sent me in a rocket to Earth where I was to grow up.
"So THAT'S what happened to Krypton!" the scientists in Zoll was avidly interested in the story. "And because Krypton was so much larger than Xenon, you have super powers on our world."
"Yes" responded the Man of Steel. "Just as YOU would have super powers on Earth, which is much smaller than Xenon."
"How I wish you could stay here and use your powers to guard us against these volcanic eruptions" Zoll Orr said with a sigh as he tried to figure out what to do about the frequent natural disasters bothering Xenon.
"And how I wish I could be a Superman on Earth like you!" Kell Orr added with boyish enthusiasm.
"Hmm... maybe you can both get your wishes," Superman mused. "I'll stay a while, if your son will take my place on Earth. He looks like me, and I can train him to fill my part."
"Wonderful!" Kell was gleeful at the prospect of gaining super powers. " I've always wanted adventure. Xenon is so dull." So it was decided.
Superman quickly built Kell Orr a spacesuit, and they lifted into the sky. The suit allowed them to communicate in space, and they laid plans as they flashed through the spacewarp back to Earth.
"Playing your part on Earth will be a thrill!" Kell's excitement was still growing. "We have no criminals on Xenon."
"You'll find it a tough job," the more experienced Man of Steel warned his double. "As soon as I've taken care of those volcanic eruptions on Xenon, I'll be back for you."
Not long afterwards, in Clark Kent's apartment, the replacement hero tested his powers for the first time. While dressed as Clark, he easily lifted a sofa above his head with only one hand. "WOW! I DO have super powers on your Earth - not as great as yours, but real."
"Kell Orr, never do a super stunt as Clark Kent unless its life or death!" Superman warned his enthusiastic friend. "I'm counting on you to keep the secret of my identity." Finally, both men decided Kell was trained well enough, and Superman once again headed off to Xenon.
'It's a little risky, leaving Kell Orr to take my place' the Man of Steel thought to himself as he flashed once again through the space warp. 'But I have to protect these people against the volcanic eruptions. I feel as if they're MY people!"
Back on Xenon, that feeling of belonging continue to grow as Superman spent more time with the Zoll and Vara. The next night, after dinner, the three new friends were watching stereovision in the Orr's living room, and the Man of Steel's thoughts strayed sadly to nostalgia. 'I would have had a home like this, and a father and mother like this, if Krypton hadn't perished...'.
His musings were interrupted as Vara announced "I'll turn on the telestereo news." She flicked to a different channel, and the scene changed to show a scene of Superman carrying the 'cold beam beast' and a female announcer narrating the scene.
"And this film made by our star reporter Vana Vair shows this stranger who calls himself Superman gathering up the game-preserve animals panicked by the volcano. Who is this mighty Superman? All Xenon wants to know more about him."
Zoll thought about this for a few seconds. Superman wouldn't have much privacy if every journalist on the planet was trying to track him down for an interview. "Superman, you'll be pestered by reporters and curiosity seekers. You'd better pose as my son to avoid that."
A few minutes later, after Superman had donned the green open-necked shirt, red shorts and green tights favored by Kell Orr, Zoll Orr looked him over. "Fine! You can be my 'son' when you're not in action, and no one will bother you." As they were talking, they overheard Vara in the other room, greeting a visitor.
"I'm not so sure" Superman whispered cautiously. "There's that curious girl telestereo reporter now."
Sure enough, Vana Vair swept grandly in the room. She was surrounded by a natural aura of 'stage presence'; she dominated a room just by entering it. "I'm anxious to find out more about that Superman who did such a feat" she greeted Zoll Orr as if they were simply continuing a prior conversation, then she took a good look at Superman. "Hmm... is this your son? He looks rather like Superman." She was very attractively dressed in a fashionable open-neck tan mini-dress over a red blouse, an outfit much more revealing than any Earth reporter would wear while she was on the job, and her outfit showed her spectacular legs to best advantage.
"No, my son is not Superman!" Zoll said, meanwhile thinking 'And that's the truth!'.
Vana airily discounted his denial. "Maybe he is without your knowing it. I" she sighed longingly "certainly admired Superman!"
Superman kept his face blank, but his thoughts echoed his dismay. 'Oh, oh! Women are the same all over the universe. She definitely suspects my identity." But before the replacement 'Kell' could make his own denials, the house began shaking. A chair moved across the floor, a lamp fell over.
"An earthquake!" Zoll exclaimed. "Another of the small quakes and eruptions that have plagued us. It may shake down the 'Over Ocean Bridge'!"
Vana rushed towards the front door, exclaiming excitedly "I'm going to cover the story!" Meanwhile, the disguised 'Kell' hurried deeper into the house for privacy, thinking 'And I'm going to switch for action, fast!'
Seconds later, Vana Orr's flying car zoomed at top speed towards the mighty Over-Ocean Bridge. As she came into sight of the bridge, she saw something suspicious in the sky ahead of her. 'There's Superman again, and he came from the direction of Zoll Orr's house!'
Ignoring everything but the potential disaster at hand, Superman used his super mentality to examine and discard approaches to saving the bridge at lightning speed, and he instantly settled on one. 'Only one way to stop this end of the bridge from shaking...'. He zoomed up to the last suspension tower, and lifted the mighty span free of the supports which were swaying and moving violently in the quake. From one of the tall buildings in the city, his super hearing picked up a random conversation...
"Look!" a sultry woman's voice was sighing in relief. "That Superman stranger is holding this end of the Over-Ocean Bridge' to keep it from feeling the shocks!" "And the quake's quieting" a man responded breathlessly. "He saved the bridge!"
A few minutes later, as Superman checked the city end of the bridge for hidden damage, he was surrounded by a crowd of cheering people. Vana, carrying a camera, managed to push her way to the center of the crowd and greeted the Man of Steel.
"I got telestereo pictures of your great deed, Superman. You're everyone's hero now and {sigh}... you're my hero!" she gushed. Quickly he took to the sky with a nerverous response.
"Er... thanks, Vana! But I have to find out what's causing all those disturbances. See you later!" and he was gone. Vana filmed his departing flight as her suspicions of Kell Orr churned in her mind. She was determined to prove that Kell Orr and Superman were the same man!
Back in Zoll Orr's lab, Zoll and his replacement son 'Kell' discussed the puzzling string of natural disasters. "Every scientist on this world is baffled!" Zoll exclaimed in frustration. "We can't find the causes of these mysterious quakes and eruptions."
"I'll try to find out fast!" the Man of Steel reassured his new friend. "For I can't stay away from Earth indefinitely." Again wistful, he thought 'Though I'd almost like to. It seems like my own family, my own world!'
Before they could speak further, the lab stereophone announced a call, and the screen showed Kieran Ran, head of the Council of Science of Xenon. "Zoll Orr!" he barked urgently. "An undersea volcanic eruption is causing a great boiling geyser in the West Ocean!"
Out of sight of the screen, Superman was examining the grounds around the lab through the walls with his telescopic and x-ray vision. 'I'll switch again and get to that new outbreak fast.' he thought as he started doffing Kell Orr's outfit. 'But there's Vana out there, watching the house. She mustn't see me leave!" He bored through the floor, and drilled out a tunnel heading to the west. 'She won't see me leave this way' he thought in satisfaction as he passed secretly beneath her. 'Hmm... the high lead content in the soil of this world blocks my x-ray vision, but I can grope my way.'
He chuckled as he heard her mutter to herself, "I know that Superman {sigh} must be Zoll Orr's son! I'll prove it by waiting till he comes out." Not this time!
As he raced out over the ocean, the Man of Steel was greeted by an awesome sight, a virtual solid rainbow of thousands of giant living bodies arcing for almost a mile over the waves. 'Whew! These must be Xenonian flying fish, as big as whales! They're undoubtedly fleeing from the geyser, so it must be ahead.' Indeed, he couldn't miss it, a giant column of water blasting skyward, surrounded by flames and clouds of superheated steam. 'Fiery gas bursting upwards from a crack in the ocean's floor is causing this giant geyser of hot steam and water. I'd better work fast!'
And fast for Superman is very fast indeed. Within seconds, he was carving out a quarry of the bedrock under the ocean floor, cutting thousand of giant blocks of the super hard granite. Moving faster than the eye could see, he created a circular foundation from the largest blocks, encircling the vent in the floor. An gigantic chimney grew quickly from the ocean floor, containing the roaring mixture of flaming gases and boiling water that rocketed skyward. A red and blue blur flashed continually around the incredible chimney, and it to grow until the top was well into the stratosphere.
'That does it!' the Man of Steel thought in satisfaction. 'No fish or animal can blunder into the geyser and the fiery gas from below will soon boil away all water from inside the wall.' But he was very troubled, and once the water and steam were cleared from the chimney, he dove down through it towards the core of the planet. 'The hot gas from the crack is dissipating fast, but... but I glimpsed something down there, something unthinkable!' He crashed into the sea bed, and drove through, boring deeper and deeper into Xenon's crust, dreading what he expected to find. 'I couldn't see before because of the lead-bearing rock strata, but through the crack I glimpsed...' It was too terrible, he couldn't even think it! 'No, it CAN'T be!'
But it was. He burst through into the molten core of the planet, and his super senses confirmed the bad news. 'It's true! He screamed to himself in anguish. 'This explains why all the strange eruptions and quakes have started. Xenon, just like Krypton, has a core of uranium, and in this uranium core, just as it did in Krypton, a chain reaction has begun. Nothing can stop it now. Xenon is DOOMED!'
Part 2: A Double for Superman
On Earth, in the apartment of Clark Kent, Kell Orr of Xenon began the most perilous impersonation any man has ever undertaken... "All my life I've wanted adventure" Kell was thinking as he dressed in the familiar blue suit, white shirt and red tie for which Clark Kent was famous. "And now I'll have it on this thrilling new world!" He headed out of the apartment, still mentally reviewing his task ahead. "But I've got to keep my promise to Superman, not to let anyone discover that Clark Kent is Superman." His musing was interrupted as a car pulled up to the curb.
"Hi, Clark!" he was greeted by an attractive woman in a long brown convertible, top down, with a square front and large tail fins. "I'll give you a lift down to the office, Clark," she offered. She looked much like Vana Vair, with darker hair.
'I recognize her from Superman's description, it's Lois Lane, the reporter he works with who is so prying,' he thought in amusement, but all he said was "Thanks, Lois!" He reached for the top of the door and casually pulled it towards him - and with a shriek of metal, the entire door came off in his hand!
"Why, I pulled the door off..." he stammered in surprise, as he immediately dropped it to the ground with a clank, as if he wasn't strong enough to hold it up with one hand. 'I thought it had an electronic proximity lock like a door on Xenon!' he thought in anguish.
"So you did, Clark!" Lois responded, not quite sure if she was miffed or intrigued. "Well, get in anyway!"
Kell struggled to pick up the door and put it into the back seat, meanwhile apologizing profusely. "Oh, the hinge must have been broken," he offered weakly as he thought 'Already I've let Superman down. I've got to watch it!'. He had no idea how else he might cover up this incident, but maybe she would accept his feeble excuse.
Lois wasn't buying it, though. 'Funny about that door. Only terrific strength could have pulled it clear off.' They made it the rest of the way to the Daily Star without further incident, though the replacement 'Clark' was terrified about riding in a car without a door, and begged Lois to slow down every time they went around a corner. When they pulled into the Star's private lot, Lois asked the attendant to call a dealer to get the car serviced, and left instructions that they should send the bill to Clark.
Later in the day, an interesting political story came in over the teletype. After reading it, Editor George Taylor gave an assignment to his top reporter. "Do a column on this, Clark," he ordered, handing the disguised Kell Orr a flimsy.
"All right." Kell took the sheet and read the story, then started thinking about an angle for his column.
Meanwhile, Lois had heard from the mechanic. 'The car-door hinge was NOT broken, and if he pulled the door off, he MUST be Superman,' she was thinking, and she decided to keep a close eye on him the rest of the day. She was rewarded a short time later, when the duplicate 'Clark' turned to his typewriter to start his column.
'What a quaint old writing machine, not like the electronic voice-writers on Xenon.' He spent a couple of seconds studying the keyboard, concentrating on memorizing the key layout. He pressed a key, and the hammer snapped up, smashed into the roller, and broke. The typewriter actually bounced on the desk and the phone crashed to the floor. 'Oops! I must have hit the key too hard...'
Lois was convinced, again, that she was watching a disguised Superman. 'Now I'm sure' she crowed triumphantly to herself 'and I'm going to prove it!' She'd made a plan earlier, and now she put it into action.
"Clark, that wanted racketeer 'Sparkler' Staines, has been seen back in Metropolis," she told him as she handed him a flimsy she'd been saving for just this occasion. "Superman should know about this."
"So he should," the temporary 'Clark' agreed uncomfortably. "I'm going out, and I'll... er... tell Superman if I see him." He certainly wasn't doing a good job of allaying Lois's suspicions! He headed out into the corridor, and for just an instant, he was out of Lois's sight. 'Superman told me I could change for action in any hidden place.' he thought as he used x-ray vision to scan the nearby rooms. 'This broom closet will do.' He pushed inside at super speed.
Meanwhile, Lois was moving to part 2 of her plan. 'I'm going to follow Mr. Clark Kent to see if he 'finds' Superman.' But when she reached the corridor, it was already empty. 'He must have ducked in somewhere along the corridor, for he didn't have time to reach the elevator. I'll wait!' she thought in determination.
Kell, now in his Superman outfit, was watching Lois through the wall, annoyed at her persistence. 'I can see Lois by my x-ray vision. I daren't come out now. Only one thing to do...' He turned to the wall and pushed his way through. 'I'll go out through the wall instead of the door. I can repair the hole later.' Once again, the citizens of Metropolis were treated to the awesome sight of Superman flying above, protecting the city with his great powers.
As he crossed the sky in the familiar Wayne Boring 'running on air' pose, the new Man of Steel was as excited as any of the watchers on the ground. 'What a thrill to have super powers, even though they're not as unlimited as the real Superman's!' he reveled in the sensations of flight and the great power filling his sturdy frame. 'Now to hunt down that racketeer Staines.' he thought confidently, as he sped across the sky and used his super vision and super hearing to try to locate a clue to Staines' location.
Kell Orr might not have been have been so confident if he had known that Sparkler Staines also wanted to find Superman. The gang boss, dressed in an expensive business suit, with a diamond flashy tack pin on his tie and French cufflinks, and several flashy rings, was sitting down with his new gang, boasting about his latest plans. "If we want to pull any jobs in this town, we've got to find Superman and stop him!" He handed out several pistols to his henchmen. "And the bullets in these guns will do it!"
His lieutenant, 'Bingo' Markuzzi, was skeptical. "But Sparkler, no bullets can hurt Superman!"
Sparkler laughed. "These bullets will!" He opened his clenched fist, revealing a handful of bullets. The sparklers on his fingers reflected a bright green ight and his entire hand seemed to glow brilliant emerald. "They're Kryptonite bullets! I've got a scheme to lure Superman within range - and these bullets will paralyze him!" He laughed again, and this time, the rest of his gang laughed with him.
The first step in Sparkler's scheme took place when his gang raided the Metropolis storage location for an out-of-town filmmaker. "This studio is closed until next week, when they start their new science fiction film." Sparkler told his gang. "We can get the props we need here." Twentieth Century Swan was filming the city scenes for their next big budget production, 'Attack of the Giant Insect Invaders from Dimension X', starring rising Hollywood super starlet Rita Farr, in Metropolis. They promised that this movie would have amazing special effects beyond anything ever witnessed before; Sparkler planned to put some of those 'special effects' to work for his own fantastic purposes. Security was lax; disguised as shippers making a delivery, the gang backed in a stolen tractor trailer and took what they needed.
Wasting no time, Sparkler moved on to the next step in his evil plot. Patrolling the city as Superman, Kell Orr spotted a commotion at a fancy restaurant with a patio seating area on the outskirts of the city. He focused on the scene with his telescopic vision and was stunned to see a giant beast that would have looked more at home on Xenon. A giant, fat green snake was crashing through the hedge around the patio and the diners were screaming in panic! "Look out! That giant caterpillar will trample you," a businessman in an expensive suit yelled at his luncheon partner, while musing ruefully about the big deal he would probably lose.
Superman dove at the insect's head, thinking 'I didn't know they had insects of this size on Earth. But I've got to stop that panic!' The worm reared its front section high above the patio, with its mouth open, vicious teeth flashing in the sun. 'Have to stop this thing fast before it walks over people.' He thought as he struck it in the exposed neck. He didn't realize it, but this monster resembled a giant duplicate of an evil being on Earth-S, Mr. Mind, without his cap or speaker. He drove it backwards and lifted part of its body from the pavement, and was astonished to see that the it had dual tracks, similar to a tank! 'Why, this giant thing is a fake! But who would turn it loose here, and why?"
In an alley nearby was his answer. Sparkler and Bingo Markuzzi were chuckling as they watched the ersatz Man of Steel struggling with the mechanical worm.
'Stealing those props for "The Giant Insects' movie was a great idea," Markuzzi was buttering up the boss. "This one brought Superman right here!"
"And this Kryptonite bullet will sop him COLD!" Sparkler sneered as he pulled the trigger.
The 'CRACK' of the pistol alerted Kell Orr, and he thought fast! 'That bullet - I can see it's the substance Superman describes as Kryptonite, that can weaken his super powers' he realized. 'Mustn't let it hit me!' Using his superspeed, he slammed his fist into the patio and pulled up a brick and used it to smash the glowing bullet out of the air. 'That brick I snatched out of the pavement deflected the bullet!" He saw the two gangsters, but he had to turn his attention back to the mechanical monster, which was already menacing those nearby bystanders who had decided to watch rather than flee.
Just then, Bingo spotted a speeding Metropolis Police prowl car skidding around a corner nearby. "Sparkler, the police are coming." he pointed out. "Better lam out of here while Superman's busy." The two men faded into the alley, well before the police even realized they were there.
'That was Sparkler Staines', the replacement Man of Steel thought to himself as he forced the mechanical monster's jaw shut alone. 'but I've got to keep this huge fake insect from running wild before I go after him.'
Lois Lane had more faith in Superman than Kell had in himself; she approached the titanic struggle before the monster was subdued. "Superman, I want to talk to you!" Ignoring the danger of Superman's ongoing attempts to gain control of the robotic caterpillar, she recounted her earlier activities. "... and when I heard a crash inside the broom closet, I looked and found a hole in its outer wall." She paused, then continued triumphantly. "How do YOU explain THAT?"
"Er... why ask me, Lois?" Kell Orr stammered as he tried to think of some excuse, any excuse, and none presented itself themselves. With a major effort, he wrestled the robot into the air. "I'm busy, Lois! I have to get this big prop back to its owners." He flew back to the studio, where the elderly watchman had just awakened from his morning nap.
"Yes, we had several of these giant insect props, and they were all stolen" the guard said, abashed about having slept through the theft. He hoped Superman wouldn't tell his superiors, but the replacement Man of Steel was worried about something else...
'That's bad! If Sparkler and his men have more such fearsome props, they'll use them. He's turning those props loose to draw me into the reach of his Kryptonite bullets.' The information Superman had provided on Kryptonite helped him figure out a way to deal with the bullets; he streaked out of town to a mountain range where his x-ray vision spotted a lead deposit.
'Pounding these lead ores into molten metal should provide a shield for me fast!' he thought as he smashed into the side of a rocky cliff. The heat of his x-ray vision charred away the rocks holding the ore, and whatever impurities there were, leaving him with a pile of solid, pure lead. Squeezing the lead like a child kneading play dough made it malleable; he fashioned a mold in the granite and then pressed the soft, warm lead into the mold. When it cooled, he used his super-hard fingernails as trimming knives, and even carved a hasty symbol on the front. Finally, he leaped into the air, carrying a circular, dull gray shield, more than 2 feet across, with the symbol of a giant red star traced out like a bulls-eye on the center.
'I wanted adventure' he thought ruefully as he 'walked on air' back towards Metropolis, '... but not the terrific worries Superman has. Lois Lane is sure now that I'm Clark Kent - and those crooks are after me with Kryptonite!'
At that instant, the stolen semi was approaching the Metropolis Amusement Park It was driven by Johnny 'the Priest' Madonne, a bright young thug who had just blown in from Opal City. "Superman was lucky to escape our Kryptonite bullets, but we'll get him sure this time!" he said enthusiastically to the boss. The Priest had plans of his own, and someday intended to rule Sparkler's gang.
"Yeah" Sparkler agreed. "He'll have to show up fast, and we'll be ready for him!" Madonne recklessly smashed the truck right through the entrance, scattering screaming citizens and park employees, and two gang members quickly opened the big doors on the back of the trailer. A giant mechanical mosquito flew out of the truck, transparent wings whirring with a painful shriek. A giant green beetle of some kind followed, and then a giant black ant. Inside the trailer, 3 men sat in front of control panels, watching TV monitors which showed what the insects saw through cameras in their eyes, and used a complex series of controls, levers and pedals to drive the insects forward.
'Look out! Giant insects! Run!' a gorgeous redhead, newly arrived in Metropolis, yelled a warning at her date, while thinking that the super power of controlling insects would sure come in handy right about now! The crowd waiting in line for the Ferris Wheel and the ice cream stand scattered wildly in panic.
Kell Orr's super hearing had picked up the screams of the crowd, and he was overhead almost instantly, his new shield strapped to his back, hidden by his cape. 'I thought so' he mused silently as he scanned the grounds. 'They did this to draw me into ambush, and they're down there waiting for me. But I have to go in, as the real Superman would. He unstrapped his shield and charged at the giant ant, which was about to rip some members of the crowd apart with razor-sharp edges on the armor of its front legs.
"IT'S ALL RIGHT EVERYBODY!" the replacement Man of Steel shouted super loudly. He blocked the ant's charge, and Sparkler and his gang took advantage of the distraction.
"Now's our chance!" the gang boss shouted triumphantly. "Give him the Kryptonite!"
Kell moved at super speed, waving the shield faster than the human eye could follow. "I'm bouncing the Kryptonite bullets back harmlessly to the ground with this lead shield." he thought with satisfaction. 'But one of them will get me unless I get them first! I can't go near them while they have Kryptonite...' the giant steel ice cream cone the snack stand used as a sign caught his eye, and he was inspired 'But that big steel cone-sign may help.' He leaped into the air, and before the startled mobsters could fire again, he had inverted the cone and was dropping it over the bad guys like a candle-extinguisher.
"I threw away the ice cream" he quipped. "But you can have the cone!
The crooks remaining in the truck didn't have Kryptonite, and the new 'Superman' quickly overwhelmed them and disabled the robotic insects. He landed on the ground with a sigh of relief. 'That was close - too close! How does the real Superman stand a life like this?'.
A shout from one of the spectators made him realize his troubles weren't over yet. Here come the police... and the reporters. His apprehensive look at the crowd that was about to swarm him missed Lois Lane, but of course she was there.
Lois overheard Superman addressing the cops "Yes, your prisoners are under that cone. And you might pick up the flattened Kryptonite bullets, too. I daren't go near them." She quickly searched the area.
'Hm, there's one bullet over there that nobody has noticed...' she realized. One of the bullets had bounced further away than the others, and it had rolled into a crack in the pavement that concealed it. She quickly spoke to Superman in an effort to distract him. "A swell feat, Superman! I'll hurry back to the Starr and tell Clark about it - if he's there, which I doubt!"
To her relief, the Man of Steel took to the air. "Oh, Lois - your suspicions are foolish! Er... I've got to go now!" and he vanished at superspeed.
Lois casually walked over to the concealed bullet, and when she was sure nobody was paying attention to her, she quickly bent down and retrieved the flattened lump of Green K, thinking 'I can use this bullet to prove my theory, once and for all!'
Seconds later, back in the Daily Star building, Kell was donning the blue suit and glasses of Clark Kent. He found that he wasn't enjoying his stay on Earth as much as he had hoped. 'This double life of Superman's is enough to give me a nervous breakdown! But, I've repaired the wall, and I'll be working away as Clark when Lois gets here.'
A half hour or so later, Lois walked into the newsroom to find Clark at his desk. She pulled out her lump of Green K and stood there for a minute, musing on her plan. 'I won't go near enough to harm him, just enough to prove that the Kryptonite bullet in my hand affects Clark Kent. That'll prove he's Superman!' She silently moved closer, and then stretched her hand towards him. She gasped in amazement 'Why, you're not Superman after all! This Kryptonite bullet doesn't affect you."
Startled, Kell looked up and jerked away from her. "Why, it doesn't!" he gulped and stammered. "But it should...er, I mean...I never expected..." Then he caught himself. "It's true. Kryptonite doesn't affect me at all!" A close listener would have picked up both anger and relief in his voice, but Lois was too flustered to notice.
"But" she asked in bewilderment "If you're not Superman, who is?"
Both reporters were surprised when a powerful voice answered from the door to the newsroom. "I am, Lois!"
Lois spun on her heels, emitted a stunned gasp. "Superman!"
He took a step into the room and stopped. "I can't come near you because of that Kryptonite." He explained. "But I want to see you, Clark. Come along with me and leave that bullet here." Superman picked up Clark and they wooshed out the window.
As they flew to a secluded area outside Metropolis, Kell recounted his adventures on Earth.
"...and Kryptonite had no affect on me! Why?" Kell wondered.
Superman's super mind was racing, and he deduced the likely explanation. "It must be because Xenon, the twin planet of Krypton, is made of isotopes of Kryptonian elements which have a reverse chemical action. Maybe that fact will help in this crisis."
Kell picked up on that right away. "What crisis? Superman, why is your face so sad? Why did you come so suddenly?" he demanded in apprehension.
"To warn you that your world of Xenon is doomed to perish as Krypton did" the Man of Steel spoke slowly, sadly.
Kell could hardly believe his ears. "My world, my people... all to perish?" His face hardened. "No!"
"There may be one chance for them" Superman spoke, and a look of hope crossed his face. He leaped into the air and rocketed skyward at super speed, followed closely by Kell Orr, who had to strain to the utmost to keep up with his more powerful double. The two tore a ragged tunnel of vacuum through the atmosphere. "But we must hurry, or they'll die as the people of my world died, long ago." They vanished into the space warp to Xenon almost before Superman's dire words stopped ringing in the roiled air they left behind.
Part 3: Superman's Mightiest Quest
Faster than light, two powerful figures hurtled across space from Earth to the doom-shadowed planet of Xenon. Kell Orr was still stammering in disbelief. "My world Xenon, my people... It's impossible that they can be annihilated, Superman!"
"I know how you feel, Kell Orr" the Man of Steel replied, sympathy in his voice. "But it can happen. It DID happen to Krypton, long ago."
The two landed, and rushed into the laboratory of Zoll Orr, Kell Orr's father and the leading scientist on Xenon. Zoll sadly confirmed the potential upcoming disaster for his son. "Yes, Kell, it's true, though no one else on Xenon know yet. A chain reaction in its core will soon explode our world like a giant bomb!"
Kell buried his head in his hands in unbelieving despair. Superman took to the sky, trying to leave behind some encouraging words. "I'll check the core again. Maybe the reaction has slowed down. If so, there's hope!" As he plunged through the planet's crust, Superman gathered some lead ore, and worked it into a giant scoop. He was unpleasantly surprised when he reached a cavern near the core. It should have been pitch black in the cavern, but instead the reaction filled the rugged chamber with bright white light.
'Instead of slowing down, the chain reaction is speeding up!' he observed. He dipped the giant scoop into the molten material making up the core. 'By getting a sample of the core, Zoll Orr and I can determine how much time we have before Xenon explodes.' At super speed he was quickly back at the lab. Superman and Zoll worked through the night. As the sun was rising, Zoll announced the bad news.
"Yes, Superman! The reaction rate has accelerated. It'll reach the explosion point in two days. Superman took the news stoically, but Kell, who had just come back into the lab, was devastated.
'Only two days of life left to our world. Oh, no! It's a nightmare, a bad dream...' he thought helplessly.
Meanwhile, Superman heard a knock on the door, and used his x-ray vision to see who it was. "Oh, oh! I can see that girl reporter Vana Vair is coming here. She's outside now."
"She mustn't learn the truth," Zoll Orr said with determination. "It would plunge Xenon into panic to know. Kell, you stall her while Superman gets rid of the radioactive material!"
Kell had to wonder why Vana was out so early in the morning, but her words indicated she'd been staked out watching the house all night. "I glimpsed Superman zooming down into this house again - and I find you here. Quite a coincidence," she said accusingly, standing with her hands on her hips.
Superman must have been careless, when, just a few minutes ago, he'd gone out to fetch some exotic chemicals Zoll Orr had needed to finish his analysis. Kell wasn't quite sure what to say, so he told the truth. "Er, Superman was here... but has left." 'I hope', he added in his thoughts. And he was right. Taking advantage of Vana's concentration on Kell Orr, Superman left the lab by a back door, and rocketed into orbit, carrying his giant scoop full of the still radioactive core material, still liquid from the tremendous heat of the chain reaction it still supported.
'Nobody must see this radioactive sample' he thought to himself determinedly as he flashed out of the atmosphere. 'If the truth gets out, there'll be panic on Xenon and our efforts will be hampered.' He continued to zoom away from Xenon, making sure he was far enough away that the core material couldn't fall back to Xenon as a dangerous meteor. 'And only two days to work in...' His thought was interrupted as he was hit with unexpected pain. A quick super vision scan located the source. 'Kryptonite, in that meteor!' Well, that was as good a place as any to dispose of the deadly radioactive fluid. 'I'll throw this radioactive sample and it and get back...'
But what he saw stopped him, and he used his super vision to carefully study the reaction of the core sample to the Green K. 'The Kryptonite has neutralized the radioactivity of the sample!' he thought in amazement. He started to evolve a plan, and he could feel hope rising in his heart. 'Now to get back and start working on our last hope!' he thought as he pushed his super speed to the limit to return to Xenon. It would take all the time remaining in the next 2 days to execute the audacious scheme that had just come to him.
"I got rid of Vana Vair, though she still thinks I'm you," Kell Orr greeted the Man of Steel. "But what can we do to save Xenon?"
"The key to saving Xenon can only be found in the cosmic wreckage of its former twin world, Krypton!" Superman said in excitement. "We're going to search space for the debris of my native world." He leaped back into the air. "I'll need to build a big space ship, fast, and to make that ship I'll have to mine plenty of lead!"
"But I don't understand..." Kell protested to his father. What did Superman hope to find that could save Xenon? Zoll was equally as mystified as his son, but the two of them quickly followed the Man of Steel in a flying car to a remote location. It only took him a short time to mine and refine the various metals he would need to construct his spaceship, and he started to work at super speed. The Orr's watched him with anxious curiosity.
"What secret in the wreckage of long-dead Krypton can save our world?" Kell longed to know. He needed something to restore his hope. Both men were watching the construction so intently that they failed to see a familiar sky car streak to a landing nearby.
"We must have faith in Superman." Zoll reassured his son. "You help him in his search and I'll try to keep our people from learning of the coming doom." Vana made a noise as she approached them, and father and son turned in surprise.
"It's Vana!" Kell exclaimed, frustration in his voice. "She trailed us here, and overheard."
"You're NOT Superman after all!" Vana pointed at Kell. But what's the doom you spoke of?" By now, Superman had spotted the pesky girl reporter as well, and decided not to waste time by trying to fool Vana.
"It's the same fate that overtook my world," the Man of Steel told her, then gave a quick concise account of the nightmarish danger faced by Xenon and its people. "And so Kell and I are going to try the one way that may save Xenon. But if the people find out, panic will result and many will perish."
Even Vana's desire to break this incredible scoop was overwhelmed by the deadly severity of the situation. "Superman, I'll do anything to help you and Kell Orr!" she promised earnestly. "Nobody will learn of it from me!"
An hour or so later, Kell Orr and Superman climbed into the giant, spherical, lead-armored ship, and it rose majestically from Xenon, starting the Man of Steel on his greatest quest yet. A treasure hunt through the debris of a long dead planet, searching for the key to prevent the destruction of yet another planet and its people, the great descendents of the civilization of ancient Krypton.
"But even if they find Krypton's wreckage, what secret can it hold?" Vana asked Zell in despair.
"I don't know," he answered in puzzlement. "I can only hope!" The two watched until the great ship vanished, and then silently returned to Zoll Orr's laboratory, each worrying over the puzzle of the search and the impending doom of Xenon.
On board, the two men looked out through the giant forward viewscreen as Superman gave Kell more details about the ship and the mission. "I had the hull of the ship made with solid lead because the wreckage of Krypton contains Kryptonite, formed by the explosion of my world. The lead will shield me from it's rays." The Man of Steel began showing Kell the controls.
"But I don't need protection." Kell reminded his friend. "Remember, we found on Earth that Kryptonite doesn't bother me because Xenon's chemical elements are the reverse isotopes of Krypton's elements."
"That's what I'm counting on." Superman agreed. "You can help me vitally in this search." They were even now approaching a swarm of Green K meteorites. The Man of Steel manipulated some levers, and through the view screen, the two men could see a section of the hull fold out.
"So that's how you'll handle the Kryptonite debris without touching it, by extending that scoop," Kell observed in approval.
""Yes, Kell," his friend agreed. "But I'll need your help in places where the scoop wouldn't work." The hull closed again, and the Kryptonite was conveyed into the giant cargo hold, which Superman had shielded with double the thickness of lead he'd used in the hull. Without shielding, the amount of Green K they had already collected would kill him almost instantly. Yet it was only a small fraction of the amount he had calculated would be required. They sped onward through space, picking up the random Green K meteor, but they needed to find much larger clouds of debris in order to gather enough in time to save Xenon.
And they found a larger 'deposit' of the now-precious green mineral. A giant Green K meteor had smashed into a large rocky asteroid. If they could recover that, it would more than double their current cargo! As Kell Orr had regained his powers in the low gravity environment of space, both men went ashore, though Superman maintained a cautious distance. Using super ventriloquism, the two were able to communicate.
Kell had planned to pry the meteor loose from the asteroid's surface and smash it into chunks that would fit into the scoop, but it wasn't going to be that simple. "That strange space beast - it's eating the Kryptonite out of the debris that fell here. We'll have to drive it off." The beast looked very much like a classical dragon from Earth, even down to having wings. It must have been adapted to both living in space, and flying in the atmosphere of a planet. If they saved Xenon, Kell thought, he hoped that beast would never find its way to his home!
But Superman realized he wouldn't be much help chasing the beast away; the Kryptonite which it had already eaten would keep him from approaching it closely. He had another idea. "Hmm... in space, it must use telepathic senses instead of hearing. Maybe a mental command will work on it." He concentrated all the power of his super mind into a command. <
The beast was definitely startled to 'hear' something on a deserted asteroid, and perhaps the sight of the giant spherical ship, so much larger than the beast itself, and two unfamiliar creatures as well, made it cautious. It reared up onto its hind feet, bent its hind knees and sprang into space. Neither superman could see how it navigated in space, but it made a course adjustment and headed for another nearby asteroid.
Kell started digging out the mound of meteoric Kryptonite, and he realized he'd made a bad mistake by assuming it was solid. The impact with the asteroid had shattered it, and Kell had unwittingly unbalanced the pile. As it started to fall on him, he realized that his partial invulnerability might not protect him. 'I brought the whole mass down! It'll crush me, and Superman can't help with the Kryptonite here!'
Superman had other ideas. 'Kryptonite or not, I've got to save him!" He launched himself at super speed into the avalanche of the deadly Green K. But a huge boulder had already smashed into Kell's head, stunning him. "I'll shield Kell Orr from the slide" the Man of Steel thought, stiffening as the sharp pain of Green K radiation struck him. He managed to smash into Kell Orr, and the two men were knocked from the path of the slide. 'But... But the Kryptonite here is paralyzing me.' He fell to the surface alongside Kell Orr, far enough so that the Green K wouldn't kill him instantly.
'Kell Orr is stunned - and when more of that debris slides down on us, he'll be smothered.' In his pain, Superman had forgotten that Kell Orr could survive in space, just as he could, but the situation was still dire - he couldn't be sure his friend would come to before he died of Kryptonite poisoning. 'And I can't move a muscle here, with the Kryptonite paralyzing me!" Superman was snared in a cosmic trap!
Unable to move, growing weaker every second, and fighting incredible pain, Superman was using the only super power still available to him, his super mind. 'The space beast I drove off! It's my only chance now. If only I can will it to come back...' Using every erg of strength he had left, the Man of Steel struggled to ignore the pain and concentrate his mind on projecting a message: <
For a time, nothing happened, and he started to give way to despair, but then the great beast swooped down to the surface. It landed near the mound of Kryptonite and began eating again. Superman faded into and out of consciousness while it fed. He wasn't sure if what he saw was real, or a hopeful hallucination, when 'It's eating the last of the Kryptonite. It'll leave when it's all devoured.' He passed out again, not knowing if he would ever awaken.
When he did awaken, he felt much better. He could see that the space beast had just left to look for other food elsewhere. 'As soon as it left, I regained my strength. Now I can get Kell Orr back to the ship!" He picked up the young man from Xenon, and realized that he was still very weak from Kryptonite exposure. There were still scraps and shards of Green K that the space beast had not eaten. Ignoring the pain and weakness as best he could, he managed to get Kell back into the ship. Safe from the K radiation inside the lead-hulled ship, he soon recovered fully, as did Kell Orr.
The Xenonian was despondent. "Superman, I planned to help you, but you saved me!" Kell Orr said ruefully. He felt less than useless, but Superman had an idea how to save something from this misadventure. Kell left the ship and used his super speed to scour the asteroid for fragments of K the space beast had overlooked. It only took a few minutes, and shortly, he added another ton to their supply of Kryptonite. "Now what?" he asked his friend as their mighty ship once more rose into space.
"We lost hours there, and hours are vital." Superman replied. "We've got to find more of Krypton's wreckage and I think I know where we can do it!" He drove the mighty ship into a nearby space warp, and when they returned to normal space, Kell was stunned at the view. Space in front of them wasn't empty; it looked like a floating mountain range that had been used as a dump for thousands of years. Asteroids of all shapes and sizes clustered together, the debris from ancient space ship wrecks, a hull here, a rocket motor there, a skeleton that seemed to be the same species as the space beast they had just met, shattered buildings and things Kell couldn't even name, all surrounded by a thin cloud of glittering space dust.
"The currents of space sweep wreckage from all the universe into this region, the 'Sargasso of Space'," Superman explained as the two men used their super vision to examine the cosmic junk pile in fascination.
"But I still don't see how finding wreckage from Krypton can help save my world, Superman?" a puzzled Kell Orr asked the Man of Steel. Before Superman could answer, though, Kell Orr's telescopic vision spotted what they needed. "Superman, look!" he excitedly alerted his friend. "There's much wreckage from Krypton here - mixed with great chunks of Kryptonite." Superman quickly drove the ship to the indicated location and opened the scoop.
Superman directed Kell Orr's attention to an artificial satellite resting among chunks of Green K. "That little sphere... I want to examine it. It has no Kryptonite in it, so you can bring it inside."
Kell Orr did so, then began gathering Kryptonite and loading the ship. Meanwhile, Superman examined the satellite. Because it was from Krypton, the materials were too tough for him to simple tear it open, and it took some time to figure out how to work the hatch. He had just succeeded when Kell Orr re-entered the ship. As this source of Kryptonite was now played out, he launched the ship once more into space, to continue their great quest.
"It's a small unmanned space-satellite that scientists of Krypton sent up to circle their world." The Man of Steel was excitedly cataloging the contents of the satellite. "See, it has a camera-projector to take films, weather instruments, and so on." All the contents were in perfect condition; apparently the explosion of Krypton had blown the small sphere away without damaging it. And because it hadn't actually been part of the explosion, it had escaped being turned to Kryptonite.
"Let's project the films and take a look" Kell said. There wasn't anything they could do until the ship's instruments located more Kryptonite, and he needed something to take his mind off the upcoming death of his planet and his people.
One of the cameras in the satellite had been constantly aimed at Krypton, and they were soon witness to an awe-inspiring event, the devastating explosion that shattered Krypton, turned so much of the debris into deadly Green Kryptonite, and gave the universe one of its greatest heroes. "The satellite camera filmed Krypton's last hours" Superman said with a choke in his voice, almost overcome with sadness. "Just before it blew up, my father launched me, an infant, toward Earth." He nodded his head forward and recited a silent Kryptonese prayer, blessing those who had perished in that awful explosion. "The end of Krypton, seen with our own eyes, in this film."
Kell Orr's own sense of urgency was heightened by the record of Krypton's great disaster. "And that'll happen to Xenon if we fail!" he gently reminded his friend. But he was still puzzled. "Yet, how can we succeed? What secrets in this debris are you after?"
"It's the Kryptonite itself I'm after," the Man of Steel explained. "We must amass as much of it as we can, and race back to Xenon!"
"How can Kryptonite prevent the explosion?" Kell asked incredulously, meanwhile worrying about his friend's sanity. 'It's fantastic. I'm afraid Superman's man has been affected by that film.' Yet, Kell Orr didn't have a plan of his own, and he remembered that his father trusted this hero. He vowed to himself that he would, too, and if worst came to worst, he would go down fighting for his planet and people!
Superman calculated that the amount of K they had collected was almost enough, and they turned ship, hoping they would find more on the return to Xenon. They collected another swarm of K meteors, and made a final stop to collect the very large meteor where Superman had original dumped the radioactive core material, and realized that Green K might be the answer that saved Xenon. Kell had to leave the ship and break it into lumps, and as time grew shorter, the two men were developing a frantic urgency. Superman calculated that they were now above the critical amount of Green K, and they drove the ship at top speed towards the dying planet.
Back on Xenon, Zoll and Vara Orr and Vana Vair were watching a timer count down to the predicted end of the world. Vana was was on the verge of panic. "Oh, why don't Superman and your son Kell come back?" she asked the older couple. "So little time..." she sighed, and then fell silent, thinking about the things she wanted to do in the last hours of her life.
Zoll had similar thoughts. "Only six more hours. Six hours of life left for our world..." He turned to Vara, planning to suggest that they should spend some private time together, when the lab was rocked with the largest quake so far. The shock went on and on, until Vana screamed!
"Have you and Superman calculated wrong?" Her voice was shrill with panic. "Is this the end, already?"
The shaking slowed and stopped and the three sighed in relief. A quick glance at one of his instruments galvanized Zoll Orr to action. "No! But it's a terrific new quake. Its center is not far from this city. We'd better get there fast!" He was hoping he might learn something there that might be useful.
The three of them rushed to Zoll's sky car. Vara was loath to be separated from her husband, and Vana figured she might as well spend her last hours getting the biggest scoop in the history of Xenon - even if she didn't get to publish it. Besides, she might get to see Superman and Kell Orr again, and she realized she was developing feelings for both of them. Within minutes, they were flying over a vast chasm. Deep inside, they could see the churning molten core of Xenon, roiled and bubbling as the chain reaction grew in strength.
"Zoll Orr, what is it?" Vana gasped in amazement. The chasm was vaster than anything ever before seen on Xenon, so vast that the human mind had trouble grasping even the concept of so large a tear in the surface of a planet.
"An omen of the approaching end," the scientist replied fatalistically. It seemed as if all hope was gone; Superman and his son were going to be too late. "That quake has uncovered the radioactive core of Xenon, due to the chain reaction taking place." A geyser of superheated gases and dust show skyward from the massive tear, causing turbulence that forced Zoll to land the sky car. As he set down, Vara noticed a crowd of panicked citizens rushing to escape the devastation in Xenonopolis.
"The shock is bringing a crowd," she pointed out to her companions. "They'll learn the truth! That Xenon has but hours to live." She sounded resigned to her approaching death; at least she would be with the husband she loved so well, surrounded by their people.
"Zoll Orr! Look up there!" Vana pointed through the domed roof of the sky car, hope surging through her voice. "Look! Superman and Kell Orr have come back, with..." The giant spherical ship Superman had constructed was hovering high overhead, surrounded by a glowing green cloud. Superman and Kell Orr had bailed out of the ship and were falling towards Xenon's surface.
"The Kryptonite weakened me as soon as I flew outside the lead ship" Superman was thinking "But I'll fall outside its influence in a second."
Kell Orr was scanning the ground. "I saw my <
"My son, at least you have come back to be with us when our world dies" the scientist replied, taking rueful satisfaction that his family would perish together. But Superman wasn't ready to admit defeat.
"Your world is NOT doomed!" he insisted. "I thought I'd have to drill a shaft down to the core of Xenon," and drilling a large enough shaft might have taken more time than they had left. "But dropping it into the chasm caused by that quake will let me get the Kryptonite into it fast."
"But what good will Kryptonite do?" Zoll Orr was still puzzled. Superman finally revealed his entire scheme; he'd kept it to himself before as he was sure his friends would think he'd lost his mind and lose all hope.
"It will HALT the chain reaction!" he revealed. "The chemical action of Xenon's elements are the reverse of Krypton's elements. "I know, because when I tried that sample on a Kryptonite meteor, the reaction stopped" Superman smiled at the irony of the very Green K meteorite which had alerted him to the solution being the same meteor which insured he had gathered enough Green K. He indicated a box which his companion was holding.
"Kell Orr can use that remote control device to send our ship and its mass of Kryptonite into the core and stop the reaction." His triumph turned to sadness with his next words. "But I must leave Xenon, never to return, once it is a Kryptonite world."
Zoll Orr shared his sadness. "Never to return? I feel..." he stammered with emotion "I feel I am losing a second son."
Sadly, Superman exchanged hugs with Vara, his newly found 'mother', and Vana, then shook hands with Zoll and Kell. "Goodbye, Kell! You were a swell comrade. I know it was YOU, not Superman, that Vana was interested in."
Vana had tears in her eyes, but she admitted "I... I know now you're right." She smiled and took Kell's hand. "Goodbye, Superman!"
Superman slowly lifted, then turned and reluctantly rocketed into space. Kell Orr touched a button on his remote control panel, and the space ship dived into the chasm at full power. It split and melted when it crashed into the core, releasing millions of tons of Kryptonite. As the Kryptonite sank in the frantically boiling liquid of the radioactive core, Zoll Orr monitored the chain reaction with a mobile instrument station he'd brought with them from the lab. He was tense as the reaction at first seemed unaffected, and then started to slow. Superman was right that Kryptonite damped the chain reaction, but was there really enough to bring it to a halt?
Finally he sighed as the reaction dropped below a critical threshold. Superman had calculated correctly and captured enough Green K. A short time later, he announced "The chain reaction has completely stopped! The Kryptonite neutralized it!" The core was still deadly radioactive, but the chunks of Kryptonite, which had floated down into the radioactive fluid, were now distributed throughout the core, and it was cooling, solidifying, locking them in place.
"And to think that Superman, to whom we owe so much, can never return here... will never be rewarded for his feat" Vara mused sadly, as she and Vana moved to the sides of the men they loved to exchange hugs of joy. There was work ahead, rebuilding the damaged city of Xenonopolis, but it was work they all looked forward to.
As for Superman, if Vara could have read his thoughts as he flew back to Earth, she would have realized that he had indeed received one of the greatest, most satisfying rewards of his career. 'No one could prevent my native Krypton from perishing, but Xenon will live! Krypton, through me, reached across space and time to save its twin world!' With that satisfied thought, he was energized as he plunged back into his regular life!
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