This is turning into quite the scene!
“No, leave her alone!” Jeremiah cried. He reached up and was faced with guns from two alien soldiers. “Take me, please.”
“We cannot let her go. We cannot risk her running back to her superiors..”
“Her friends.” Jeremiah corrected automatically. “She has no 'superiors'. Only friends and fellows. One particularly close friend.”
Another solider forward and waved the other aside. “How close are we to her friends?”
“I won't betray them. And I will not let Sarrin out of my sight.”
“Then you're coming with us. Which was is their camp we'll go the other way.”
Jeremiah hesitated. Sarrin stood up. “No Jeremiah. They are sincere. And I don't think they have any interest in Arias.”
“I can assure you that much is true.” The officer promised.
“We should learn each-others names. My name is Jeremiah, this is Sarrin.”
“I am Lieutenant Non. This is General Astra.”
“You're not from here either are you?”
“We are not.”
“Okay, so what happens now?”
“Now we figure out what your friend knows about a friend of ours.”
“It's been two weeks.” Jeremiah thought to himself. “every time they take her and she's gone for hours. Why don' they ever question me? They must be looking for answers (they think) only another alien can provide. But what are they doing to her? Every time they bring her back, she can barely move. 'no that's not right' he forcefully corrected himself. 'She's dazed and disoriented but it is not fair to say she can barely move.' “Why does she defend them?” He pondered aloud. The guard looked more closely at him but gave no other sign he had even heard him speak. Jeremiah faced the man more directly. “What is it about Astra that has Sarrin so deferential to her?”
“GENERAL Astra inspires loyalty. Lt. Non commands it. The Atraxi very wisely does not resist their presence. I mean, why would she?”
“Atraxi...You're Kryptonians!”
“What of it?”
“I...assumed you were White Martians...maybe Elana's race. That you were looking for J'onn or one of my other friends. Well, this explains a lot. Not everything__but a lot.”
The guard stepped aside when Lt. Non brought Sarrin back into the compact, comfortable room that served as their cell. “It's alright. I'm just tired. It's been 31 hours after all.”
“I'm not sure I understand. But...I understand more than I did.” Sarrin smiled and instantly fell into the most peaceful, motionless sleep Jeremiah had ever imagined witnessing. He had to admit that was probably normal for Sarrin's race. He sat down against the rear wall of their cell and tried to sort his thoughts. General Astra and Lt. Non might well be married. But they were soldiers first and foremost: they addressed each-other by rank, at least in front of their guests. The outlines they wore on their left breast next to their shoulders was probably military insignia. But they bore no family crests. So either they had been dis-commended, or they were not from one of the great houses, as Sarrin had once described Kryptonian families.
“36 hours. 36 hours.” Sarrin muttered, sitting up.
“I'll ask you about that later. I think I understand why you keep defending them. ALL Kryptonians were your 'superiors' back on their planet, weren't they?”
“Just so.” Jeremiah gave her an entreating look. “If I had been two years older when ...everything happened, I'd still have a dark blue cloth above my elbow indicating which great house I served. They are Kryptonians. It wouldn't occur to me to question their honesty. Unless my empathic abilities told me otherwise. And I sense no such matter.”
Lt. Non returned ten minutes later. Jeremiah stood between Sarrin and the solider, his hand stretched toward non as if putting distance between himself and hideous danger. “Leave her alone.” Jeremiah declared with a forcefulness that caught Non's attention.
“That's quite a change. We knew you were a good-hearted man and an honest one. Now I see that you have a spine as well as a tongue.”
“And I intend to use both. Please, whatever you want from her, take me instead.” He seemed to consider the man in front of him. “Would it do any good to beg for it?”
The flat tone of his voice made it hard to determine if it was an inquiry or an assumption. Non stared at him and he levelly returned the stare. Finally Non shook his head. “That you are willing to do so tells me enough. Come with me.”
“You seem different today Mr. Danvers.” General Astra prompted him.
“You're Kryptonians. It was the only thing that could explain Sarrin's deferential attitude toward you. You have no interest in any of my friends do you...the ones at Arias.”
“Not unless one of them is a blonde-haired young woman who is energized by the sun.” Jeremiah's head perked up. “We are looking for one of our own kind. Where is she?”
“I don't know who you're looking for.”
Non gave a fierce backhand to Jeremiah's jaw. The man didn't flinch. “Where is she?!”
“I don't know who you're talking about.” Jeremiah insisted just as fiercely. Non took a threatening step closer. “I don't think you would have me lie.”
"Jeremiah, this place you keep talking about, Arias, does it live up to its name?" Astra asked thoughtfully.
"Extremely so."
“You live in a sanctuary for peaceful aliens.” Non observed.
“For almost 5 years now.” Jeremiah answered. “What of it?” Non did not reply, nor did he need to. “J'onn leads a group of vastly different species some look very closely human, like Sarrin. Some completely human, by choice or otherwise. Some have powder blue skin and golden-tinted eyes. Are you looking for one of them?”
“We are looking for one of our own. A young woman who would be wearing this symbol.” Non tossed Sarrin's notebook to the ground. It fell open to a very familiar page.
“The house of El?” Jeremiah said in a strange voice. Non's face went rigid with determination. “Are you FROM the house of El?”
“You know it?” Astra demanded fiercely. “What do you know of it?”
In response Jeremiah held his right hand up, all four fingers bent toward his palm, his thumb against the thick of his hand. He was taking an oath. “My son, Elias would wear this symbol. His Kryptonian name is Kal-El. It was his 10th birthday when we found the ship that brought him to Earth and learned this much. I didn't know the significance of the symbol until I came to Arias and met Sarrin. While she was born on Krypton, she is not herself Kryptonian. She's the one who drew this symbol. A man who wore this on his chest saved her life when she was a child. When Krypton was destroyed. So the symbol was understandably burned into her memory. All of these things I swear to you.”
General Astra's features softened. "I'm looking for Kara Zor-El. She would be Kal-El's cousin."
"And you are her family." Jeremiah surmised.
"Yes. But neither of us are of the house of El. Kara's mother and I were sisters."
"What was Kal-El's father's name?"
"His name was Jor-El. I've often wondered why Jor would send his son to Earth of all places."
"I cannot help you solve that mystery. All I know is that my son survived the destruction of his planet and I have raised him since he was almost 6 years old. I am not claiming credit. The only thing I'd claim credit for is protecting Nikita or befriending Sarrin."
"If we had been interested in hurting her..." Non prompted.
"I would have done anything to take her place. For J'onn's sake if not my own."
No comments:
Post a Comment