Chapter Seven: Kara

In an abandoned part of space. In the far distance, a massive black hole was slowly devouring the planets and debris from a once lively planetary system. The tragedy that struck this place could have been avoided if not for a few scheming individuals, but it had already been thirty years and anyone that was still alive from before this tragedy had long since fled or died.

A man sat inside a narrow space pod roaming the decaying system. The large 'S' encased in a triangle on his chest would have been enough for anyone to know who he was back on Earth. Here if it had been thirty years earlier, then it would have been a single character. Not an 'S' inside a triangle, but on a whole meant something altogether different. Precisely the character had signified 'The House of El' which was noble and respected on Krypton. Now, he was just another orphaned refugee, attempting to understand who he might have been in the events thirty years prior had gone differently.

He wasn't even sure why he was here… Clark had guessed there wasn't anything remaining of his people, but the sight of the destruction of his original home was… He wasn't even sure what the word was… Depressing, heartbreaking? No, not really, he kind of felt a numb ache if that made any sense. Shaking his head, he continued to drift in the rocks that once made up his birthplace. Did he really have to return without even anything to show for it?

Pressing a button on the controls he started speaking, "Personal journal. After following the coordinates from my ship's personal flight recorder, I've finally retraced the initial route from the escape from my home planet… Krypton."

Initiating the ship's systems, he searched for any life signatures in the area. Since the ship was Kryptonian in design the technology was centuries ahead of the current earth standard. Therefore, searching for the entire system for life signs took about two minutes. After a period of time, the screen showed the words 'Negative life signatures'. Releasing the breath, he was holding he felt what little home he was holding on to die in his chest.

"There is nothing out there but death," Clark said sounding frustrated and mournful at the simultaneously.

Closing his eyes, he didn't notice the ship's terminal begin to flash until the beeping sound penetrated his ears, "A distress signal?! On the edge of the system!" The hope he had let die moments before sprang to life in an instant. He could help to want to find something here, anything.

Quickly plotting a course, he approached one of the furthest planets in the system, though it was still whole in shape the core of the planet had been extinguished and it had already started its slow trek towards the Blackhole in the distance. Clark wasn't really concerned about the state of the planet itself; he was still attempting to localize where the distress signal was coming from.

Orbiting the planet for several minutes more he finally located the exact location and started landing procedures. Once on solid ground he started dressing in his excursion wear and opened his exit hatch.

Noticing his suit's sensors stated there weren't any traces of Kryptonite his frail hope reared its little head once more. He really didn't want to be optimistic judging by the state of the planet, but surely the height of technology his people were capable of at this time would warrant a possibility. Maybe an underground city, or something that might have prolonged his people's lives to some degree.

The ground was mostly encased in ice and there wasn't much light due to there no longer being a star in this system. Clark's enhanced eyes still caught the outlines of large buildings with architecture similar to what he had seen in images of his home planet. Taking a look around he checked his forearm to see where the distress signal was located.

The signal was showing him it was coming from one of the dome-like buildings about fifty meters away and thirty meters below him. Luckily his body was still affected by the sun's rays on earth so when he came to a large chunk of ice barring his path, he simply tore it away. Descending the steps, he kept his face neutral keeping that nagging feeling of hope at the back of his mind.

Strange and sad scenes appeared in front of him as he walked further down the stairway. Halfway down the stairs he spotted child's doll completely frozen into ice, while a skeleton of a child lay close by. It was hard for Clark to see these things. He had known for a while his people suffered from a disaster, but knowing and seeing were two completely different things.

Reigning in his emotions was hard, but there was nothing he could do for these people that had already passed. Steeling himself, he continued downwards until the space in front of him opened up into a gigantic clearing, and further down what appeared to be a control station with a few terminals were still alight with energy.

Clark knew the base was close to shutting down and was only still powered by reserve energy. Still running after thirty years with even a spark of life shows how truly amazing his people were at the time of their demise.

As he came closer the system received command by his presence, something that must have been set up by whoever transmitted the distress signal in the first place. Hoping it wasn't some elaborate trap set up Clark waited while lights flickered to life all around the control station.

Suddenly, with a flash of light, a beautiful woman appeared inside as a hologram. She wore black pants, what appeared to be a white top and a navy-blue cloak over her shoulders. Her complexion was fair, with large red lips, dark troubled eyes and some type of jewelry decorating her forehead. She held her hands together in a reserved notion possibly some custom his people had when greeting, he had seen similar greetings on earth when he analyzed other people's body language.

When she spoke, he could tell the woman was at the end of her rope, and this was her last-ditch effort of salvation. He felt that he needed to at least hear the last words of this woman and if she had last wished he would at least attempt to complete them.

"My name is Kala ln-Ze, chief physician of Argo City. Five years ago, Argo was a thriving and vibrant world. Then, without warning our sister planet, Krypton was destroyed in a giant chain of explosions. Krypton's destruction tore Argo from its orbit. The resulting devastation destroyed most of our world and sent it moving slowly, inexorably away from our sun. Leaving only a few desperate survivors slowly freezing to death. There was nothing my people could do but pray our distress signals would be answered... But now, I can wait no longer. I've taken a desperate chance to save my surviving family. To my knowledge, we are all that is left of the planet Argo." When the video ended Clark could see visible tears in Kala In-Ze's eyes and with pleading in her eyes she let out her last plea, "help us, please."

The message was abruptly cut off but the images of Argo during its destruction and where she placed the surviving members of her family were beamed into his mind. It appeared that they were cryogenically frozen and stored in the most secure place of this bunker.

As the lights faded from the area, two very large doors opened and Clark found himself walking towards them without much forethought. The possibility that there was a family of survivors just waiting for a rescue sent something through him that made him want to sprint into the room.

Clark has spent the time since he was fifteen years old off and on, rescuing people that didn't even have a connection with. He wouldn't choose otherwise if he had the choice, but these people were Kryptonians! Yes, they lived on Argo, but this planet once had his same species inhabiting its surface. Which meant, even on a small scale… he could help save his race from the danger. It was more than he could have ever hoped possible.

Hope was a ruthless mistress though, "I'm too late." Clark said as he approached the first three Cryo-containment pods and only the remains of them were frozen corps' their remains were already not much more than skeletons.

But as he approached the last remaining pod, he noticed though it was still banged up it didn't appear to have been breached. "Maybe not," Clark said as he wiped away the layer of frost on the glass revealing a sixteen-year-old blonde without a mark on her fair skin.

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Argo – Twenty-Four Years Ago

She gripped her hand tightly, perhaps too tightly as the Chief physician-led her down the narrow corridor. Passing a window, her eyes drifted to the left attempting to look outside. But she was being pulled too hard, she wasn't able to get a good look. At the end of the corridor, they swiftly exited a door that led outside to a large courtyard.

What appeared in front of her there was no longer any way to avoid seeing now. Argo City was falling apart. Lava flowed along the main freeway spreading throughout the city streets and every building. She could see groups of people… her people. On rooftops adjacent buildings to her own, waiting for someone to save them.

"Kara, don't look." The voice of Kala ln-Ze did little to distract her as she watched a nearby building crumble and descend into the lava, taking the hundred people on the roof and the two thousand inside with it. She heard the screams. She tried to look away but she couldn't her body was frozen in place.

From her vantage point, she spotted the temple of Rao. It was once a place where people went to find solace, became a tomb for people trapped inside. Those who weren't crushed under falling debris as the sky-reaching buildings toppled, were disintegrated in an instance.

She was just twelve years old then, she didn't remember much afterward. It became a blur of running and escaping. Eventually, they survived but their planet was dying. For three long years, they waited in a cave and every day seemed to get colder. Kala ln-Ze once-proud Chief physician of Argo City now a shadow of her former self suggested a gamble. If successful, they would go to sleep and wake up saved from certain death, but if not… they would never awake.

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Waking up seemed to take more effort than it had ever had before. Kala ln-Ze had said it was like going to sleep and waking up again, but she was wrong. At first, she wasn't aware of the passage of time but as the years went by the more, she became aware she was never going to wake up.

She started to give up hope… but that was when she finally opened her eyes.