by Dan Swanson
Kell Orr, Xenon’s Superman, was a faster flier than either of his kids. He was visible only as a red and blue blur as he caught up to Thunderwing Snortfire from below and behind. This beast was much larger than a normal snagriff, about seventy feet long with a wingspan of about one hundred feet. (*) “I’m going to hit the nerve center behind the head,” he radioed his partners.
[(*) Editor’s note: About the same size as a World War Two B-17 bomber.]
But the beast was as invulnerable as Kell Orr himself. Kell bounced off, stunned. The snagriff was stunned as well, and started spinning slowly out of control. The younger heroes, Skyfire and Fource, arrived before either Kell or the beast could recover.
“Dad’s only stunned,” Skyfire told her brother after reading Kell’s mind. “Let’s take care of the big guy here.”
Fource chuckled quietly to his sister via radio, using his powers to ensure that their father couldn’t overhear. “I guess the ‘brute force and massive ignorance’ attack isn’t going to work this time.” The two younger heroes had received extensive military training in the Space Patrol, which emphasized discipline and tactical planning, and constantly chided their father about his impulsiveness.
The younger generation of Xenonian heroes launched their own double-barreled attack. Skyfire blasted Thunderwing with a short, very intense blast of sensory “static,” attempting to stun the dragon by overloading him with a barrage of powerful random sensations. She squeezed her eyes shut, scrunching up her fists as she concentrated on focusing all her mental power into the blast. She hoped it wouldn’t kill the ‘griff, but was much more worried that her attack wouldn’t be powerful enough to stop him.
Fource used his control of the four fundamental natural forces to focus all the electromagnetic radiation — light, ultraviolet, radio waves, x-rays, et cetera — from the surrounding volume of space.
Thunderwing’s mind exploded with sounds, images, smells, touches, all unnaturally powerful. His besieged brain virtually shut down for a few instants under the overload; released from the control of his brain, his body experienced the draconic equivalent of a seizure, and Thunderwing’s limbs, wings, neck, and tail flailed about violently and uncontrollably.
At that instant, a broad beam of scintillating blue light, projected by Fource, struck the snagriff, who vanished in a cloud of greasy black smoke. The battle wasn’t over, however — the incredibly potent blue beam instantly burned away the cloud to reveal the dragon, now gleaming like burnished metal. But his invulnerable hide had protected him, though the powerful beam had instantly vaporized every speck of dust and dirt, every barnacle-like parasite, and every external discoloration from his metallic scales.
Neither young hero could continue with such powerful attacks for more than a second or two. So, as the attacks faltered, Thunderwing regained control of his body and turned to face the super-siblings. He snorted a blast of flame from his nostrils, then resumed his flight toward his anticipated meal and recreation on Ulaine. In his experience, even enemies that were foolish enough to attack a snagriff once rarely tried a second time after facing a snoot of fire.
A normal snagriff snorted burning methane, which wasn’t powerful enough to harm Fource or Skyfire. But the mutation caused by Jor-L’s serum had enhanced Thunderwing’s fire-breathing prowess, and this flare of fire quickly coalesced into a massive ball of roiling plasma of superheated metallic ions, as hot as the interior of a white star.
Neither youngster was invulnerable like their father, but they had other defenses. Fource created an electromagnetic field around them to deflect the ionized mass, and Skyfire reinforced it with her telekinetic powers. Even so, the ball knocked them aside as their shield deflected it.
“Larre, can you get rid of that thing?” Kell Orr’s voice came over the radio. “No telling how long it will hold together, and it’ll be deadly to anything in low orbit.”
“Good idea!” Skyfire agreed. “Papa and I will tackle the ‘griff again, and Larre, you join us as soon as you can.”
Fource was used to his sister taking charge when they worked together, and he usually went along with her, though he privately reserved the right to ignore her orders if he had something better in mind. It had always worked out before, though. “Okay,” Fource agreed. “But both of you be ready to dodge on my command — I’m going to see if I can give him a taste of his own medicine, and throw that heater right back at him!”
“Listen, Papa!” Karre projected her thoughts into her father’s mind before he could complain about her taking charge. “If you didn’t have powers, would you fight a regular snagriff alone, unarmed, and without a plan?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “I didn’t think so. Well, this ‘griff is way more dangerous than a normal one, even before it got super-powers at least as great as ours! It could kill us if we aren’t careful. We just lost Zoll and Vara, and we don’t need to lose any more family members.”
A smart-ass reply flashed through Kell’s mind, but thoughts of his parents squished the impulse. He knew that his kids thought he was too reckless, though he didn’t agree with them. He had never encountered a situation his powers couldn’t handle. He would humor her, for now.
“Okay, you take the lead, Pumpkin,” he agreed. “This thing has stood up to our individual attacks. Let’s show him what it means to challenge Xenon’s Boldest Family!” This was a nickname given the three of them by the news vidcasters.
Superman and Skyfire flashed at the surprised snagriff, and before he could respond, they delivered twin blows to his jaw. Kell’s Superman costume didn’t lie — his mutant powers made him the physical equal of his Kryptonian look-alike, and while Skyfire was physically less powerful, she used her telekinesis to enhance the blow. The ‘griff’s head was knocked upward, and he tumbled backward, head over tail.
“Heads up, old-timers!” Fource radioed. Skyfire was constantly reminding her brother that she was the elder of the pair by several minutes, so sometimes he teased back. “Incoming!” The ball of plasma had an electrical charge, and Fource’s powers had been able to swing it around like a rock on a string. He released it directly at the ‘griff.
Tumbling as he was, Thunderwing was unable to avoid his own reflected attack, and the incredibly hot fireball splashed onto his newly polished armored hide. The mutated scales of the snagriff’s armor were laced with Kryptonian metals, and they withstood that incredible heat, but the pain was beyond anything the ‘griff had ever felt before.
He focused his anger on Kell Orr, the twin of the Superman of Earth who had hounded him over the last week, and he blasted out of the explosion like a super-speed missile. Kell was still groggy and moved too slow to dodge. Just before impact, the snagriff spun around and slammed Xenon’s greatest hero with his tail. The super-powered hammer blow knocked Kell unconscious and drove him toward the planet below at super-speed. The ‘griff dived after him, followed by Fource and Skyfire.
“You catch the old man,” Fource suggested to his sister. “I’ll see what I can do to take out that monster.” Just as she began to object, he added, “Just this one time, Sis — don’t argue with me!”
She bit her lip and raced away after her falling father. Concentrating, she projected her thoughts, screaming into his head, “Wake up, Papa!” At the same time, she extended her telekinesis to the limit to slow his fall. She couldn’t stop him, but she pulled him to the side so he was no longer directly in front of the diving dragon.
The dragon tried to slow down and change direction, but something was wrong. Fource was increasing the force of gravity under the snagriff, and instead of pulling out of his dive, Thunderwing was accelerated toward the ground. Fource pulled the ‘griff toward a mountainous area in the animal sanctuary outside of Xenonopolis. Before the dragon could compensate for the increased gravity, he smashed into the ground, blasting a deep hole into the bedrock.
Not far away, Kell Orr also smashed into the ground, but with much less force. His kids landed next to the smaller crater he made, and combined their powers to pull him out.
None of the heroes expected the impact to do anything more than slow Thunderwing down somewhat, and they were correct. Kell Orr was just recovering his wits when the snagriff climbed slowly from the much larger crater his violent landing had smashed into the terrain.
“You kids are right — even the powers of Superman aren’t enough to win this fight,” Kell Orr admitted ruefully to his children. “We need teamwork and strategy.”
“Good call, Papa!” Karre replied. “I’ll use my telepathy to coordinate our actions, and if any one of us has a good idea, just think it, and all three of us will know it instantly!”
“Into the blue!” Larre shouted urgently, vocally and mentally. The three heroes blasted off just before a plasma ball blasted yet another crater into the landscape they had just vacated. With Karre coordinating their actions, they launched another attack on the ‘griff.
The terrain around them quickly suffered. Trees and brush were vaporized, large gouts of soil were blasted away to the bedrock, and every animal that wasn’t already killed was racing for safety. Even with Larre coordinating their attacks, the heroes barely held their own.
On Krypton, a normal snagriff was easily more powerful than three Kryptonian humans, and the mutations caused by Jor-L’s potion had endowed Thunderwing with powers and abilities far beyond those of normal snagriffs. In the Xenonian environment, the ‘griff was even more powerful, and even with their own powers, along with their coordinated attacks, the heroes weren’t quite breaking even in the fight. And then disaster struck.
“Karre! He’s started an avalanche!” Kell Orr screamed mentally. His daughter had perched momentarily on the side of a mountain to try and get a better picture of the strategic situation, and Thunderwing had blasted a cliff above her with heat-vision. Thousands of tons of rock were cascading down the slope.
Kell Orr raced for the mountain, anxious to scoop up his daughter and carry her to safety, and he carelessly passed too close to the dragon. Once again, he’d ignored the beast’s tail, and the beast slammed him with a blow from that invulnerable mace, knocking him out again as it drove him deep into the bedrock.
As the two youngsters raced to their father’s side, Thunderwing howled in triumph, accidentally unleashing another Kryptonian power, his super-roar. The powers of the younger heroes didn’t protect them, and the incredibly loud noise slammed them both into unconsciousness. They fell into the hole their father’s crash landing had created as the snagriff zoomed in to finish off the unconscious heroes.
***
With all the power available from the K.D. Drive, why did they make this damn boat so freepin’ tiny? Science Patrol Lieutenant Karys Thal thought to herself in exasperation. It’s like spending twelve hours in a sleeping bag! She scanned the tiny experimental space ship’s main control panel, then swiveled the pilot’s seat to check environmental controls and the ship’s system monitors, and ended up stopping in front of the sensors and communications panel.
She had just come within communicator range of the Science Patrol spaceport on Ulaine, where she was based; it was time to check in and get landing instructions. “K1 to Ulaine base,” she signaled over the encrypted channel. “This is Star Siren, in the Krypturanium Explorer, requesting landing instructions,” she said, using her call sign.
After waiting a few seconds with no response, she glanced at the space traffic control duty roster displayed on one of the many computer screens in the tiny vessel. “C’mon, Wort, what’s up?” she asked, her voice tinged with a hint of frustration. “I’ve had a long day today.” It was more than just a long day, actually. There wasn’t much to do on Ulaine in your off hours except party, and Karys had been up until early this morning, at a party with a lot of other junior S.P. officers. As a result, she had started this morning’s test flight with a terrific hangover, and she reasoned that perhaps Wort was still recovering as well.
Karys was a test pilot, and today she was flying a small experimental spaceship with a totally revolutionary power plant, the K-Dondron Drive. Years ago, Zoll Orr, Xenon’s top research scientist, and his young protégé Juna Dondwar had developed the theory behind the drive, utilizing the exotic matter particles given off in the reaction between kryptonite and uranium.
The power plant, which had recently been developed from their theory, had far exceeded expectations. The K.D. Drive had consumed less than two ounces of each element while driving the Krypturanium Explorer, call sign K1, to the orbit of Nadron, the next planet out from Raotun, and back in about ten hours. This same trip would take current rocket-driven ships as much as six months each way. And the fuel chamber in the K1 held several pounds of kryptonite and uranium.
She was preparing to call again, using a more urgent code, when Wort finally responded. “Sorry, Star Siren, the K1 is so tiny, and you were so far out just a few seconds ago, that the system tagged you as a meteor, and besides I’ve got other things on my plate,” Wort explained. “Space above Ulaine Port is currently under emergency restrictions. No landings or even flyovers are permitted. We are preparing to evacuate the asteroid. You are ordered to divert to the port at Xandor. Repeat, divert to Xandor.”
“What’s the deal, Wort?” Karys asked, her curiosity piqued.
“Ulaine is under attack by a giant space monster with atomic breath,” Wort replied, his voice serious. “This is not a joke, a prank, or a drill. We need to keep the space above the port clear for launching spacecraft. I repeat, your orders are to divert to Xandor!”
A month ago, Karys would have laughed, but the effects of the Crisis had changed her opinion of what was impossible. Her first impulse was to ignore orders, land, and assist in the evacuation. But ships were already starting to launch, and she would just put other people in danger if she tried to land.
“Good luck, Wort,” she said softly. “I wish I could do something to help!” She knew the Science Patrol would be the last to evacuate, and Space Traffic Control personnel would be required to stay at their posts until the situation was resolved.
“Thanks, Karys!” Wort exclaimed, breaking protocol by not using her call sign. “The dragon is now some one thousand miles traceward of Ulaine, with an estimated time of arrival of about ten minutes. (*) You should avoid that volume of space during your landing maneuvers. Now get going. I’ve got work to do!”
[(*) Editor’s note: A body in orbit traces an orbital path around another body. Traceward means back along the orbital path that Ulaine had just finished traversing.]
One good thing about flying an experimental ship was that it was well-equipped for observation. Karys activated the Explorer’s megascope and searched traceward. The remains of her hangover were blasted away by a wave of adrenaline when she zoomed the viewscreen for an extreme close-up of a giant winged monster locked in deadly combat with Xenon’s Boldest Family.
She knew the heroes personally — she’d graduated from the Science Patrol Academy the same year as Karre and Larre Orr. She gasped in dismay as the Superman of Xenon was slammed down toward the planet. The monster abandoned its pursuit of Ulaine and dived at high speed to follow the falling hero, and Larre and Karre instantly joined the chase.
Orders be damned! she screamed in her thoughts. I’ve got to help my friends. She aimed the small ship toward the planet and turned up the power. She would reach the first fringe of atmosphere in about ten minutes, so she had time for more observations.
As the snagriff changed direction toward the planet, Karys had the impression of something strange around its neck. She zoomed the megascope in for a tighter view and took some pictures. By now a cloud of brightly glowing, superheated plasma was starting to envelop the dragon, so she ordered the ship’s computer to enhance the pictures.
“Why, that thing is wearing some kind of collar!” she exclaimed. “What is it, someone’s pet or something?” She tried to conceive of a being who would keep a giant fire-breathing snagriff on a leash, and for just an instant she felt sympathy for the portion of Xenon’s population that was terrified of space travel.
“There’s writing on the collar!” She could puzzle out quite a bit of the inscription; it was written in an alphabet and language similar to modern Xenonese. “That thing’s from Krypton!” she shouted in dismay when she had puzzled out that much. “They don’t have a chance against it alone — but I can help!”
As she approached the edge of the atmosphere, she donned the helmet on her vacuum-proof flight suit, and set the cabin environmental control to maximum cooling. She turned the ship end for end and dropped it into the sea of air stern first, relying on an untested theory to protect her from the deadly heat of reentry.
Science Patrol scientists theorized that the stream of exotic particles emitted by the K.D. Drive would disrupt the “cushion” of superheated plasma that normally built up under and around an object falling into the atmosphere with great velocity. Instead of the ship being wrapped within this deadly sheath, the disrupted plasma would flow around it, and the hull of the ship would remain relatively cool.
She had seen this theory tested in wind tunnels and simulations; now she saved the Science Patrol thousands of hours of unmanned testing by proving the theory in practice. The temperature in her cabin became uncomfortable, but her sealed flight suit proved adequate, and the hull temperature remained easily within tolerances.
She passed through the sixty miles of atmosphere in ten minutes, and by the time she was approaching ground level, the K1 was moving at a sane speed for atmospheric flight. All that extra power does have its uses! she thought triumphantly.