22: Fortress
When the Kryptonians began their expansion through the cosmos, they needed outposts, fortresses where their people could reside comfortably.
Thus, they created a model of structural construction very different from any other species, one that allowed them to quickly and easily create a place for them to inhabit, no matter the world they were on.
Daniel looked pensively at the white, almost transparent crystal, about 15 centimeters long, in his hand.
What did he remember about this? Truthfully, he remembered quite a bit, but all those memories were somewhat confusing because the "fortress" was always something strange that was represented in different ways over time.
He couldn't tell, just by looking at the crystal in his hand, what kind of structure he would encounter once it was deployed.
"A Kryptonian meta-structure, that's interesting," Daniel returned the white crystal to Carol, who received it and nodded.
It was the morning after Carol discovered her true origin. In reality, there was more conversation between Carol and her mother, but Daniel decided to leave them alone during that time. Sometimes people needed privacy, and he could see that "Lara" needed that privacy with her daughter, even if now she was nothing more than a remnant.
It was strange to remember someone's name out of nowhere, but he supposed he would have to get used to it as it happened more frequently these days.
"So, what will you do? I gave you some suggestions considering what you've told me about this, but it seems that you are still waiting," Carol looked at him and blinked, confused.
Daniel felt a headache. He felt a bit sorry for Lara; that woman didn't know that her daughter had thrown privacy overboard and had come running to tell him everything they had talked about.
Obviously, Daniel and anyone else could infer that the fortress was an inheritance, something only Carol should have. But this girl was so careless that right after receiving it, she brought it to his farm and started chattering about it with him.
Perhaps someone else would have seized this opportunity to get their hands on advanced alien technology. Certainly, Daniel could use it to advance his future plans more quickly.
The problem was that Daniel had no interest in "stealing" from Carol what was rightfully hers.
Not because he didn't think it would be useful—it would be—but his self-imposed morals were in a dilemma. He knew that Carol could be quite... permissive with him. It wasn't new to him that she did that, and he would be very foolish not to notice.
In his most private thoughts, Daniel really believed that if he told her to jump, she would do it, no matter how strange it sounded. This certainly did not please him, especially now that he knew who she really was.
It might sound stupid, but he had a great deal of respect for Superman. He was like an ideal he aspired to reach, even if it was somewhat unrealistic. so having his younger sister in front of him and "taking advantage" of her felt like insulting the man in some way.
Carol looked at him, confused, noticing the strange gleam in his eyes as he looked at her.
Normally, she would have enjoyed being looked at by him, but this time, for some reason, she felt it wasn't a pleasant gaze. Suddenly, she felt like hitting someone but didn't know who.
Without being able to help herself, she suddenly poked him in the forehead, snapping him out of his thoughts abruptly. Daniel blinked, feeling the slight tingling in his head, and couldn't help but look at Carol with clear doubt.
"Don't look at me that way, it's weird," she couldn't help but say.
Way? What way? For his part, Daniel once again found that he didn't understand the thought processes of women.
Carol sighed, took the crystal, and put it in front of Daniel.
"I'm waiting for you," she said, answering his first question.
Daniel rubbed his forehead and looked at her, thinking about what he should say.
"Listen, this is yours, Carol. It's your inheritance. So you should...you know, go and do this alone?"
He didn't want to sound rude, but he could only be direct.
Carol furrowed her brows and pouted.
"Don't you want to see it? I thought you were interested." She looked at the crystal with dismay. In the first place, she didn't care too much about any inheritance. If she had done all this, it was because she thought it could be something they could both share.
"It's interesting, but it's also yours. You know, something important. I thought you'd want to keep it to yourself."
Carol blinked and looked at Daniel. It seemed there was a misunderstanding here. She swallowed and, with some nervousness, moved closer to him. They were both in Daniel's kitchen having breakfast, so it was easy for her to get closer since they were sitting next to each other.
"I want you to do this with me. You said it's important, and important things should be done with important people, right?"
Oh shit, she was giving him puppy eyes. Daniel sighed, looked at her for several seconds, and decided to let her do what she wanted. She was too stubborn, and he didn't feel like changing her mind about something she had already decided.
"Alright, let's do it." In the end, what Carol decided to do with her things was something he couldn't change. If she wanted him there, then he could only comply. After all, it was also his responsibility to take care of her.
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Antarctica, Central Zone
The cold wind, which would have sent any other form of organic life running with its tail between its legs, felt like a refreshing breeze to both of them.
Daniel and Carol looked down from the sky at the white continent. The landscape didn't have much to offer beyond snow and ice everywhere.
"Is it cold?" said Carol awkwardly as she adjusted her grip on her ship. Their capes fluttered in the wind as they landed softly, causing the snow to sink beneath their feet.
Carol set her ship down on the ground and looked at Daniel, waiting for his opinion.
"Cold and desolate, the best place to hide something you don't want anyone to find," he said. There were other options, of course, but Daniel believed that the more complicated and dangerous it was for ordinary people to access, the safer it would be.
They were currently at the epicenter of the frozen continent, a place that could be considered the most inhospitable on Earth. For Daniel, there was no better option than this.
Of course, what he wanted and what Carol wanted could be different.
"Though this is the most logical option, tell me what you think. Maybe you want a more... welcoming landscape?" Carol walked around as if inspecting the terrain, pretending to squint for a few moments. Then she smiled and spoke clearly.
"I'm not someone who cares much about those things. Besides, you're right that this place is the best for hiding it. You're never wrong when it comes to thinking about precautions."
What she really meant was that it was fine as long as he thought it was fine.
She took the crystal she had been holding and walked to a place that seemed stable with a large flat surface.
"Are you ready?" she asked with clear excitement. While she wasn't too interested in her inheritance, that didn't mean that trying out "alien technology" didn't excite her at all.
She could appreciate technology as much as anyone else.
"As long as nothing explodes," Daniel joked, but he stepped back several paces just in case. Carol saw him and laughed, then decisively buried the crystal halfway into the icy ground and pressed one of its sides with her thumb. The crystal suddenly began to glow with lights of different colors, with unknown energy emanating from it.
Carol stepped back beside Daniel, and they both watched as the crystal suddenly sank deeply into the ground by itself. Then there was a slight tremor that shook the entire area.
Then it began.
Any other human would have taken longer to notice, but both of them could immediately see the change. First, it was a small fragment of white crystal, then two, three, four. Rapidly, the crystals began to create and grow by themselves.
The count was lost as their size began to increase. Layer upon layer of crystalline structure formed, and in less than a minute, a structure at least five or six stories high took shape. It appeared semi-triangular with crystals of hundreds of meters protruding from it.
Certainly, an alien architecture.
The ice in the area trembled for a few more seconds until everything stabilized and only "silence" remained.
They both looked at the building in amazement. A glow of various colors projected between the crystals, giving it an "ethereal" appearance, but soon that glow faded, leaving only the white behind.
"Well, it's a bit conspicuous?" Daniel said, and Carol nodded. Although from a distance, maybe it could blend in with the Arctic ice, it was obvious that it wasn't a natural structure. If someone got close enough, they could discover it with just a bit of common sense.
Daniel frowned thoughtfully. Perhaps over time, snow could cover the place and hide it better, but how long would that take? It wasn't a small structure, after all.
"Hey, do you want to learn something interesting?" Daniel said, and Carol turned to look at him with clear interest in her eyes.
Actually, Daniel should have taught her this before, but he had been putting it off for no particular reason. The opportunity simply never arose, well, not until now.
Daniel pointed to his lips, pursed them, and tightened as if he was going to whistle to indicate what he meant.
Carol blinked and then blushed, shyly looking at him and then at the ground.
"H-here, in this place?!" Daniel raised his eyebrows at the strange reaction.
"Of course, I don't think there's a better moment. Besides, I think it's time. I've postponed it too long, unintentionally, which wasn't fair to you," he said firmly. After all, he had promised to teach her everything he knew.
Carol felt her heart start to beat too fast. They were in Antarctica, the coldest point on the planet, and yet she felt the heat beginning to reach her head.
She couldn't help but rub her hands together and squirm nervously. Although she had been waiting for this, she didn't expect it to be now or in this place. Well, it didn't really matter where it was. She licked her lips and nodded to herself. It wasn't time to hesitate!
"O-okay, if you want to do it here, then I have no problem with it." She approached him timidly, anticipation filling her. She felt her legs slightly tremble, but she kept moving forward.
She wanted to look him in the eyes but felt she would faint if she did, so she simply closed them. She took a deep breath, seeking to calm her heart that threatened to leap out of her chest, and lifted her head, not knowing what else to do. She decided to leave it in his hands, surrendering completely to whatever he decided to do with her.
"First, you need to take a deep breath. The freeze breath requires you to use the oxygen in your lungs to create an effect called the Joule-Thomson by releasing the air in a controlled manner. That means you have to control the pressure using your—"
Daniel continued explaining the process in detail. For her part, Carol stood still, immobile like a statue, feeling as if her heart had suddenly been pricked with a needle and burst like a balloon.
She looked at him with a dead gaze, the brightness in her eyes extinguished, and only moved to nod robotically when he asked if she understood.
"Alright, let's go. I think we can create a good camouflage this way."
They both circled the new crystalline structure. With some annoyance, Carol took a deep breath and then followed the steps exactly as Daniel had taught her. Cold air began to flow from her lips in a controlled manner, and soon ice started to form over part of the artificial crystals.
In less than a minute, they managed to camouflage the structure, carefully modifying the terrain so that it appeared to be just more ice in a continent where everything was ice.
"What do you think?" Daniel asked, looking at how it was now difficult to tell if there had ever been an alien structure there. The only clue was an opening resembling a cave entrance left where the "door" should be.
Carol looked at him with annoyance, sighed, and let her body relax. She smiled slightly and gave a thumbs-up in approval.
"No one will notice anything," she said, walking to her ship where she took out the key and looked at it.
It was strange to know that the "consciousness" of her biological "mother" was housed in something so small and fragile-looking. And not only that, if what she had said was true, all of Krypton's knowledge was stored in this key—all the history, from the beginning to the end of an entire civilization, in the palm of her hand...
And she could simply squeeze it a little and turn it into dust...
"Let's go," Daniel said as he approached and lifted the ship over his head. Carol nodded, and they both walked towards the "door." Carol looked at the crystalline wall and raised her hand, following the instructions her "mother" had given her.
When her palm touched the white surface, a golden light illuminated its outline for a moment before it faded. Then, an opening began to form in the crystal.
It seemed that even if the structure appeared robust, it could still reshape itself in some way, which greatly surprised Daniel. He wondered what kind of technology this was.
With Carol leading the way, they both stepped forward and began to enter.
The tunnel was somewhat long initially, but they quickly entered an extremely spacious area, a large hall that seemed connected to many others by various "paths," or at least they could tell due to the visible entrances.
There were many extensive areas and wide paths, much to explore, but at the same time, the place felt empty.
It was like a hollow structure, for lack of a better term.
In the center was what seemed to be a huge pillar that appeared to sink into the ground and beyond, suggesting that there were likely several floors below as well.
Despite its vast space, the place did not feel dark. It was well-lit, thanks to the reflective light generated between the crystals. One might think the light came from the outside, but that would be a mistake since the entire exterior had been covered with "artificial" ice. So, it was likely artificial lighting providing the interior illumination.
"This place seems much larger than it should be," Daniel said, frowning. he put the ship down and He made a few small jumps, feeling something different but unable to pinpoint exactly what it was. Something was off with the gravity.
Carol nodded. She could also tell there was something strange, but it was difficult to identify what it was.
"We just need to ask," she said as she approached the enormous central pillar.
She took out the key and placed it against the pillar, then it began to fuse with the crystalline structure until it disappeared.
"It seems everything went well," the voice of Lara Lor-Van reached their ears. The place briefly illuminated with a golden light, and then her figure materialized in front of them. Unlike before, this time it was impossible to tell she was just a projection.
She opened her eyes while smiling, but her expression quickly turned to one of astonishment upon seeing Daniel next to Carol.
"You're... not human?" Lara asked, causing Daniel to blink. How did she realize that?
Carol also looked at her mother with doubt.
"What do you mean?" she quickly asked.
Lara frowned slightly but explained in detail.
"When we began traveling through the cosmos, we faced various types of difficulties. Among them, differences in gravity and atmosphere were some of the most pressing, at least in places where a yellow sun was not present. In those places, we had to adapt to different types of ecosystems. It was a small challenge to overcome, but nothing that adequate technology couldn't solve," she said, still looking at Daniel, and continued explaining.
"To make the explorers more comfortable and at the same time to make all non-Kryptonian life easier to investigate, all the fortresses were equipped with an environmental simulation system capable of changing the interior atmosphere and gravity as needed, at any desired moment. It can be applied to the entire place, specific parts, or particular areas as required." She finished speaking, and then Daniel and Carol felt something change again. This time, the strange sensation they had been experiencing disappeared.
"The fortresses have some of Krypton's default characteristics enabled for greater comfort, one of them being gravity. Until now, you have been feeling 15 times the gravity of this planet, or better said, Krypton's natural gravity." She then pointed to Daniel.
"If you were human, you should have been writhing on the ground the moment you set foot in this place." There were many differences between Kryptonians and humans despite the remarkable aesthetic resemblance. One of them was their baseline starting point. While without a yellow sun the Kryptonians may appear "weak" the reality was that they were easily dozens of times stronger and more durable than the average human, their gravity was proof of that.
Even without a yellow sun, Carol would still be a "superhuman" on Earth thanks to its lower gravity.
Having understood why she thought he wasn't human, Daniel sighed inwardly and smiled, speaking confidently.
"That's a great explanation, but saying I'm not human just because of that might be a bit hasty. Certainly, I have human parents, and I've grown up on this planet for as long as I can remember." While Daniel knew he wasn't human biologically, mentally and spiritually, he still considered himself one. He didn't like being called otherwise.
Lara looked at him thoughtfully. Carol, from the side, waved her hand.
"Daniel is human... he's just different from all the other humans," she explained, though she didn't know how to say it correctly.
Lara looked at her daughter and then at the boy beside her. She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. It seemed that her daughter had a special relationship with this "human"; otherwise, she didn't understand why she would bring him to the fortress when it was supposed to be just for her.
Daniel suddenly felt a stern gaze on him. He looked, not understanding, at the woman who seemed to be analyzing him.
Even as a remnant, Lara felt her maternal instincts coming to life.
Thus, they stared at each other in a strange way, the tension growing by the second. From the side, Carol frowned and snapped her fingers to get their attention.
"You said you'd give me a tour of this place, why don't we start?" Carol reminded her mother, who had previously talked about the fortress and how she was "dying" to show it to her.
Lara looked at her daughter and nodded, sighing inwardly.
"Alright, I'll give you a tour although there's not much to show for now. This is a 'virgin' fortress, chosen specifically to become whatever you want it to be, so don't expect a big show." When they decided to send their children to Earth, they also thought about their future.
They didn't know what path they would take. They were the first Kryptonians to be born naturally in millennia, and their future was solely and entirely in their hands. That's why the chosen fortress was one that could adapt to anything.
"Virgin, huh? Well, I think we can do something to fix that. Decorating this place should be fun, don't you think?" Carol said, patting Daniel on the back. As usual, she forgot to hold back, causing the air to crack and strong gusts of wind to sweep through the area.
Inwardly Daniel winced at the pain but as always his core made any damage disappear instantly.
He gave Carol a brief look of annoyance causing her to stick her tongue out at him.
Meanwhile, Lara slightly widened her eyes. It didn't appear so, but the fortress was filled with sensors connected to it. She could sense "everything" that happened inside, as an artificial intelligence it was her job to analyze every piece of data and respond accordingly using the available technology.
That's why she could calculate and measure with extreme accuracy the force behind Carol's simple gesture. It seemed her daughter was stronger than she expected.
It had to be known that while Kryptonians made use of yellow sunlight, they did not do so for extended periods. Kryptonians still preferred their natural atmosphere and often returned to their home planet periodically, causing the "blessings" bestowed by yellow stars to fade after a certain period, purging their bodies of any temporary changes they might have conferred.
Carol was the first and only Kryptonian to have grown up under a yellow sun; there was no precedent for this. Experimentation with infants was forbidden on Krypton, hence no one had studied what biological changes prolonged exposure to a yellow star from infancy could bring to Kryptonian babies.
Her husband had said that their children would be the strongest Kryptonians to ever exist. He was Krypton's chief scientist, so his word was almost law and although Lara was not far behind, she was more specialized in the military area so she didn't know exactly what he was referring to, not until now.
Her sensors had been studying her daughter's body's condition, looking for anomalies, diseases, anything. They found nothing; she was perfect, and the amount of energy within her had no comparison to any previously recorded data.
Carol had spent almost her entire life bathing in sunlight.
More than a complete decade, almost two.
The power Carol should possess right now wasn't easily measurable, even among her own kind.
The longer a Kryptonian spends under a yellow sun, the more changes occur in them—not to mention one growing directly under a yellow sun.
That had never happened, until now.
So why? Why was a "human" able to withstand, even the weakest, of her daughter's blows?
Lara looked at Daniel, the scientific curiosity still in her beginning to rise.
'What an interesting thing...'
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Note:
only about 240 words short of four thousand but I decided this was a good point to end the chapter, what do you think?
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