LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 35.1 – Interlude 5
Kara Zor-El’s first memory was of her father, his image across the glass of the birthing matrix. In truth, she could barely open her eyes at the time, so she couldn’t really see his shape all that well, but she remembered the large, tall figure standing above her pod for a few seconds, a second figure slightly behind him. She remembered him staring at her for a full minute and then walking away, leaving only her mother to keep her company.
Kara didn’t remember him coming to see her again but, in fairness, most of her time inside the birthing matrix was spent either sleeping, developing her body, or being educated by the learning program there. Later, she liked to think he came to check on her often, but she just didn’t remember it, and didn’t dare ask.
Still, her parents were there when she finally stepped out of the birthing matrix. Having reached the desired level of development in both body and mind, she stumbled away from the matrix and took her first steps on the crystalline floor.
Kara nearly fell, but managed to right herself and look at the couple in front of her, her biological parents. Alura In-Zee was a tall, blond woman wearing a white robe with the symbol of the El house in front of it. She had a proud smile on her face and her eyes were filled with affection.
Zor-El was even taller, with perfectly styled brown hair, he wore a mixture of robe and armor, black and with a tall collar, it had square shoulder pads in white and a red cape wrapped around his neck, tied with a golden strap. The El crest rested on his chest in white and he had a black circlet around his forehead.
Both of them stood a little apart from each other, their backs straight, but Zor-El wasn’t smiling. Instead, he watched her with a critical eye, his arms crossed behind his back. On instinct, Kara did her best to copy his posture and saw a glint of approval on his eye.
“Good, from today on you’re the newest member of the El house,” Zor-El proclaimed. “Cloth yourself and follow your mother, Kara Zor-El.”
Her father didn’t wait, walking away with sure steps as she watched his back. Kara was still covered in the embryonic waters of the birthing matrix, but Alura helped her wash it away and dress herself.
“Excuse your father, he has always been a little rough,” Alura said as she finished drying Kara’s hair. “We were both looking forward to your birth.”
“Thank you, Alura In-Zee.” Kara said, testing out her voice for the first time and doing her best to not sound stupid.
“Please, call me mother,” her… mother asked, stepping away from her and smiling at Kara. “Now, come, your father is a busy man, but he managed to reserve a few hours with us.”
The prepared clothes fit her perfectly, neatly covering her chubby limbs. Kara used her fingers to adjust the clasp for her environmental helmet, but her mother shook her head and prevented her from activating it. “We will not be going out today, there’s no need for a helmet.”
“Yes mother.” Kara answered and tilted her head in confusion when she received her first hug, Alura’s arms enveloping her body completely.
Kara’s first birthday was spent with both of her parents, an extremely rare happening from then on. She walked through their home in Argo city, being shown the facility and having the security features updated with her DNA in mind.
She especially liked the time spent with her father as he showed her the experimentation rooms and the various devices she could play with and study in order to learn.
The next year was spent mostly completing her education. As a five year old, Kara had already learned all that was necessary to survive and take care of herself, at least while inside Argo city, but she still met her mother at least once a day and her father once a week.
On her sixth birthday, Zor-El once again managed to get a release from his work on the science council to spend time with her. Kara was studying with her AI teacher when he arrived and she quickly turned it off before hushing into the labs and grabbing a hand sized crystal device, the first one she had produced with no help from anyone.
Running through the crystal hallway, Kara actually dodged her mother’s hand as she rushed towards Zor-El, then she tripped on the floor, sending her sunstone device clattering to the floor until it hit her father’s leg and stopped.
Looking down at her, Zor-El unlocked the safety on his armor and took off his helmet, then leaned down to grab the crystalline device, lifting it up and looking it over.
“Get up, no daughter of mine should be this uncoordinated,” he ordered, waiting until Kara had pushed herself up and rubbed her aching nose. “Now, what exactly is this?”
“Greetings, father, I made it!” Kara said, extending her hand towards the device. Her father glanced at it once more, but handed it over. With an eager voice, she explained. “See, its sunstone! I programmed it so the crystals wouldn’t stop growing inward once activated, look!”
Pressing a spot on the device, Kara saw it light up and start absorbing sunlight to fuel its growth, and then she threw it away as hard as she could with a grunt. Unfortunately, she was still only 6, so the device didn’t fly as far as she expected.
Seeing the little device falling not even ten meters away from her, Kara’s eyes widened in fear. “Uh-Oh.”
Zor-El’s own eyes widened in realization and, acting fast, he embraced her, turning his back to the device and huddling down around her while ordering their personal drones to form a shield behind him. It was the first time Kara had ever been hugged by her father, so she actually giggled in delight.
Behind them, the device absorbed sunlight for 6 seconds, rapidly growing inward and increasing the pressure inside. Sunstone was incredibly strong but, exposed to sunlight, it just wouldn’t stop expanding, building up pressure until the crystalline shell couldn’t hold the pressure anymore. With a crack, it exploded, sending crystals flying everywhere.
A hail of small crystals pinged against Zor-El’s shield, but it was strong enough to block any damage with no problem. Releasing her, Zor-El dusted himself and looked towards the destroyed device with a conflicted face before turning to his wife and seeing that she too was fine.
Looking at the damage it had caused, Kara couldn’t help the smile growing in her face. “...Cool!”
Turning to her father, Kara saw the disappointed look on his face and deflated. Shaking his head, Zor-El turned around and started walking towards the house. “That was a waste of resources. Come.”
Lowering her head, Kara followed after her father, her face flushed with shame. Zor-El led her further inside her home until they reached a door Kara had never been to before.
Stepping in front of the door, Zor-El waited until it scanned him, and then had Kara stand in place so she too was registered. Walking inside, Kara saw a far better equipped laboratory.
“Daughter, until your uncle decides to have a child, you’re the current heir of House El,” her father explained without turning towards her, his voice calm once again. “That was a very poor showing.”
“I apologize, father,” Kara bowed her head, her face flushed with shame.
“First, you’re going to retake a class on experimentation safety,” He said while opening a holographic display and changing her current schedule. “After that, you’ll be improving that device until it’s no longer such a disappointment. Not only did you not use any flammable glasses, you didn’t calculate the best way for the device to explode, introducing a point of failure in the device can allow you to guide the direction of its explosion, you also didn't make it as damaging as possible, resulting in most sunstone shards being either too small to cause maximum damage, or not sharp enough. A waste of resources.”
With access to the advanced laboratory and a new teaching program, Kara progressed extremely fast. Only a month later, she had her father watch her new device explode.
With sharp spikes all over one of its sides, she had introduced a small failure on the device, causing it to direct the explosion away from her and send entire spikes of crystals towards her targets. Introducing the best possible incendiary gases into the hollow of the bomb also made it far more powerful.
Zor-El watched the new test from a balcony, his hands behind his back. Seeing the destruction, he didn’t smile, but he also didn’t frown again, or show any other signs of displeasure, he just turned around and walked away, allowing Kara to take it as a win.
After the scare on her birthday, her mother decided to spend more time with her. Despite being from the science guild, it was important for all Kryptonians to keep fit and healthy, so Kara started jogging with her mother.
They ran for an hour every day, with Alura running laps around Kara. Still, Kara loved how much time she had with her mother, enjoying their runs as much as she could.
Eventually, she grew up, her body developing quickly until she could almost keep up with the older woman. The devices she produced also grew more complex, going from simple bombs into all kinds of devices.
When she was nine, Kara got interested in some of the military guild’s martial arts. While it wasn’t the focus of the El house, there was no Kryptonian law preventing her from entering another guild, much less just learning some martial arts.
So, after her run with her mother, Kara spent another two hours learning Klurkor from one of their training robots. The martial art focused on kicking, striking and defensive blocking using her limbs. Kara enjoyed the competition, and the physical exhaustion from the training was very relaxing.
Really, the first time she defeated the training robot was so satisfying. The robot was even programmed to die dramatically when defeated, causing her to giggle a little as she remembered it.
Kara spent nearly six months training before her father noticed it.
Kara felt the grass under her feet, the wind picking up speed and causing her hair to fly into her face. In that instant, her enemy attacked, a simple straight punch aimed at her head.
Stepping into the blow, she deflected the attack and countered with a punch towards the robot’s chest, causing it to stumble back. Taking advantage of that, she followed up with a kick then tried to swipe its legs from under it.
The robot simply lifted his leg and retreated before delivering a front kick to her chest that almost hit her, but the ground under him shook, causing the robot to lose his footing. Kara almost fell, but she recovered first and took advantage of the situation to grab the overextended limb and deliver an elbow strike to the joint, causing the spar to stop.
Suddenly, the trees around her disappeared along with the rest of the clearing, revealing a white, empty room. Above her, Kara saw her father standing watch from a balcony, his arms crossed behind his back as always, but a deep frown on his face.
Without a word, he shook his head in displeasure and left, causing Kara’s cheer to drop immediately. With an order to her accompanying drone, she deactivated the robot and tried to run after him, but Zor-El had already left the house, going back to his work.
The next day, she asked Alura about it while they ran. “Mother, why did father disapprove of my training? I thought that I was encouraged to keep my body in peak condition? Does he think I want to enter the military guild?”
“Kara, your father is a very… efficient man. He just fears that you won’t achieve your peak if you lose your focus,” Her mother told her, giving Kara one of her rare smiles. “You’re our pride, both of us only wish for you to reach all of your potential.”
“I understand,” Kara nodded, refocusing on their run and on improving her time.
From that day on, Kara no longer used the training robot. Instead, she redoubled her studies, starting to specialize in sunstone programming and adapting other materials into sunstone devices to make them better.