Kara - Last Daughter of Krypton


Novel
In 2016 I started work on a novel to be titled "Kara -- Last Daughter of Krypton". It is to be written in two parts; "Life on Krypton" and "Life on Earth". Currently it is about 10% done. Below is an exceprt from the novel. If you would like to give feedback, please send an e-mail to ronincreativemedia@gmail.com. Thanks.

Kara: Last Daughter of Krypton
Part 2: Life on Earth
Launch Day
By John Hidalgo

......Kara sat in the back seat of the Danvers' mini-van and gazed out the window. The pre-dawn skies were a dark purple with just a hint of orange on the horizon. The novelty of being on a whole different world had not yet worn off for Kara, if it ever would. The bright lights of department stores, fast food restaurants and gas stations caught her attention as they drove through the Clear Lake streets. Thousands of years ago, Krypton had gone through a stage of rampant commercialism, too. She remembered seeing such signs in old media from the time period
......She took occasional bites from a chocolate filled doughnut. Fred had stopped by a Shipley's Donuts along the way. "They're the best doughnuts I've ever had," Fred exclaimed. She only took small bites as the sweetness was more than she was accustomed to. Though, of all the foods that she had discovered on this new world, so far chocolate was her favorite.
......Looking to the front, Kara noticed that Fred and Sylvia were holding hand. Seeing these small expressions of brought a gentle smile to Kara's face. By Kryptonian standards Kara's parents had be down right affectionate but rarely did they hold hands. There was something natural and genuine in that simple act that Kara appreciated.
......Sylvia looked to Fred and smiled. Though he kept his eyes on the road as he drove, he was smiling, too. Beyond the affection the two had for each other, Kara also suspected that they were excited about showing off their work. This was to me more than a "take your kid to work day." Constellation, the first manned mission to Mars, after years of stops and false starts, was finally launching this morning. Sylvia and Fred were two of the aerospace engineers who had worked on the project. In fact it was how they first met. Once they were married the only reason they were allowed to continue to work together was because neither was the other's supervisor.
......Kara admitted to herself her own sense of excitement at seeing Earth's space program. She thought of the videos she had seen of the beginnings of Krypton's own space program. That was thousands of years before her time. Her excitement ratcheted up when she saw the Johnson Space Center sign as they came onto the facility grounds.
......Fred made sure to take the scenic route through the campus so that Kara could see all the aircraft and spacecraft displayed. He smile as through the rear view mirror he caught glimpses of her starring at the massive rockets. Entering the new Armstrong Mission Control Center, Kara observed the massive view screen showing the latest version of the Orion module mounted on top of an Ares VII rocket. The launch pad had been cleared of all personnel. Above the main screen was displayed the countdown clock. The launch was two hours away. On screens to the left and right of the main screen were smaller screens providing various view, some of various parts of the launch platform, some from cameras mounted on the sides of the spacecraft and few from inside the Orion module itself. Along the bottom of the main display were even smaller screens showing footage from cameras mounted on the astronauts helmets.
......Before the display screen were rows desks with computer monitor screens of their own and each with a staff member behind them. Despite being a diverse group of people, they all wore the same styled powder blue polo shirts with the NASA and Constellation logos embroidered on them, just like her newly adoptive parents. Some of the staff were fixated on their computers while others sipped coffee and chatted with their cohorts.
......"So this must be Kara."
......Kara quickly turned her head in the direction of the voice as did Fred and Sylvia. Kara saw a tall, sturdy woman in her sixties with gray hair and glasses. The woman reached out a hand to Kara who accepted the handshake. Kara noted that it was a firm handshake coupled with solid eye contact; a leader's handshake. This woman commands by trust, Kara thought to herself.
......'You must be Meredith Langdon" , Kara replied.
......"Yes, I am"
......"So, this is your circus and your monkeys, right?"
......Langdon smiled. "Indeed it is."
......"Thank you for letting me join you,today. It's an honor. I am looking forward to seeing the launch"
......"You are quite welcome. So, is this your first time to NASA?"
......"It is."
......Meredith looked to Fred and Sylvia.
......"It's going to be a bit before the launch. Mind if we give her a tour?"
......Fred and Sylvia looked down at Kara and smiled and nodded.
......"Sure," Sylvia replied.
......"Jolene," Meredith called to a young woman at one of the desks.. The woman got up and walked over .
......"Jolene, this is Kara Danvers. We've got some time before the launch. Could you please give her a tour of the space center?"
......"Sure."
......"And get her a shirt."
......"Certainly."
......They watched as Jolene lead off towards towards the space center. Meredith then turned to Fred and Sylvia.
......"She's a delightful kid.
......"Thank you," replied Sylvia.
......"You two get any sleep last night?"
......They both shook their heads.
......"Me either. I got word last night that one of Lexcorp's communication satellites was having technical issues."
......"Technical issues?" responded Sylvia.
......"What kind of technical issues?" asked Fred.
......"Lexcorp. We had notice that the satellite's orbit was decaying. When I called their operations director about it he said that they were sending a drone from their orbiting maintenance platform to investigate. I asked them to hold off until after we had gotten into orbit."
......"And are they going to wait?" Sylvia asked.
......"What do you think," Langdon replied.
......"Fuck." Fred exclaimed.

......As they strolled through the through the Space Center House exhibit, Kara found herself oddly pleased with her new mission control shirt. She realize that it was a form of uniform. She had practically grown up in one form of uniform or another. Uniforms gave one a sense of belonging and there was comfort in that. She carried the shirt she arrived in under her arm.
......As Jolene guided Kara, she bubbled with information. She gave an enthusiastic run down of NASA's history. At the Destination Moon exhibit, Kara noted how the space suits, equipment and the command module of the Apollo 11 mission was so similar to what Kryptonians had used on their first missions off-world. At Independence Plaza Kara saw a Large, white Boeing 747 with a replica of the Independence space shuttle mounted on top. Jolene took her on board where she got to see a mock up of the shuttle cockpit. Primitive but going in the right direction Kara thought to herself.
......Back in the main hall, Kara's eye was caught by a spacecraft that was very different that the others. It was rather box shaped with a pointed nose. On the while hull was a long red stripe with a yellow delta shaped worked into the design. In black lettering Kara could see the a nomenclature of "NCC-1707/1" and below that was "U.S.S. Enterprise" . Towards the nose in red cursive letters was the word "Galileo" . On either side of the craft were strut mounted cylinders capped in the front with amber domes.
......Kara found an information panel that explained the Star Trek television series and how this Galileo set piece and been rescued, restores and donated to Space Center Houston.
......"Are these supposed to be nacelles to generate a warp bubble?" Kara asked.
......"A ring structure would be a better design to ensure parts of the craft don't accidentally slip out of the bubble. That or additional nacelles above could be used to create a warp filed enclosures. Having part of your craft inside the bubble suddenly outside could be catastrophic."
......"You seem to know a lot about faster than light travel."
......"Enough to know that even though it is aesthetically pleasing, functionally it wouldn't work."
......A cellphone started ringing. Jolene pulled the phone out of her pocket and answered, "Jolene Franklin." She listened for a moment to the voice on the other end.
......"Yes...OK. Sure. We're on our way... Bye."
......Jolene put the phone back in her pocket and looked to Kara.
......"We're launching soon. Time to head back."
......"You're using solid fuel for the rockets, right"
......"Yes."
......"Oxygen and aluminum pechorlate?"
......"Correct."
......"Too bad you haven't developed a gravity governor system. It would be much more efficient than combusting rocket fuel."
......"We'll when you figure out how to defy gravity, please let us know."

......When Kara returned to mission control, she was that everyone was alternating their gaze between the large view screen in front of them and their own computer monitors. She walked down the aisles between the different work stations. Occasionally one of the mission staff would look up from their screen, see Kara and smile.
......Langdon was wearing a headset and talked to the spacecraft crew.
......Kara made her way back to Fred and Sylvia's stations which were situated next to each other at a back corner of the room. At Fred's station were a number of plastic figures lined up below his monitor. On figure caught her eye; a silver and red male humanoid with large yellowish-white eyes and a blue dot at the center of its chest.. Fred noticed when she picked it up to look at it.
......"That's Ultraman. He's my hero," Fred said with a smile.
......Kara smiled back and put Ultraman back where she had found him.
......She then moved around to Sylvia's station. Here screen was neatly arranged with different senor readouts and a schematic of the rocket. Sylvia's eyes only occasionally strayed to look up and the live video of the rocket on the launch pad on the big screen at the front of the room.
......As Langdon entered mission control she caught Fred's attention. She caught his eye and went to his station.
......"Well?" Fred asked.
......Langdon let out a deep sigh and replied "They've said they'll conduct repairs on their satellite while they are out of range and stop during the launch."
......Fred and Sylvia both let out a sigh of relief.
......"So, are they going to completely hold off until after we're in orbit?" asked Sylvia.
......"No. They've already started repairs but the are going to stop right before launch and pick up where they left off once we're in orbit."
......Sylvia rolled her eyes and shook her head.
......"It's the best I could do. Believe me. I am not done with them."

......Twenty three thousand miles above the Earth's surface, a small Lexcorp satellite with it's array of solar panels and dish antennas waited for a drone from an orbital maintenance platform to arrive to replace a failing battery. This satellite was going to be critical to providing coverage bot a pay per view mixed martial arts competition and Lexcorp had contractual obligations to make sure the show went on.
......A few hundred miles away a drone detached itself from the orbital maintenance platform. It was a small, white, box shaped device with maneuvering thrusters, cameras and long spider-like arm. On the end of some of the arms where hand like attachments and on others were specialized tools like socket wrenches, laser cutters and impact hammers. Once free of the platform it used its thrusters to turn and proceed to the ailing satellite.

......In mission control, the countdown clock above the main screen read one minute. Sylvia looked to Kara and smiled a big smile.
......"Here we go."
......Kara smiled back. The excitement in the room had caught her. All of the people were so focused on their assigned task. On Krypton space travel had been commonplace for thousands of year. She could not held but imagine that Kryptonians had struggled through their space fairing infancy much like these people were doing now.

......The drone had arrived at the communications satellite. Two of the drone's long arms reached out and grabbed the satellite by its frame. Another arm with a magnetic socket wrench began the process of unbolting a panel which would provide access to the failing battery. Each bolt was machined in such a way to have an internal flange that prevented it from coming loose and floating away. As the drone worked, bits of debris from other space projects floated by. After fifty years of space exploration, the Earth had developed a ring of space junk. Some pieces were separated panels from launch vehicles but much of it was small nuts and bolts. A couple of bolts hit the drone. It automatically corrected its position and continued working.

......"Ten. Nine. Eight," a voice over a loud speaker called. Kara's eyes were fixed on the main screen. "Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One."
......With a thunderous roar great clouds of billowing smoke erupted from the base of the rocket quickly followed by an orange glow of the engines. Slowly the rocket rose from the launch pad. In mission control there was eruption of its own of shouts and cheers. Kara found herself with the widest smile she could ever remember having. On the main screen the image followed the rocket into the sky. On an adjacent screen was show a view pointed Earthward from a camera mounted on the rocket's hull. As the rocket soared, features on the ground quickly shrank.
......Kara turned to Sylvia.
......"How long before it reaches orbit?"
......"About eight and a half minutes."

......In the capsule mounted at the top of the rocket, five astronauts watched their respective control panels as they rumbled into orbit. Captain Andrea Dennison sat in the pilot's seat. For the moment, the rocket was being not under human control. That would change once they were in orbit.

......Hundreds of miles away from the speeding rocket, the Lexcorp drone had pulled out the failing battery and was moving it to a holding container mounted on the drone's side.. Zipping across space was a small washer from a piece of long forgotten hardware that had never bothered any of its neighboring satellites until now. Ad hundreds of miles an hour it ripped through the battery causing it to explode. The drone was thrust into the communications satellite causing both objects to spin and be hurled out of an otherwise stable orbit.

......In mission control, the Lexcorp satellite was being closely monitors when its trajectory became unstable a technician who had been watching it sounded off, "Lexcorp satellite change of orbit" Langdon went over to the technician's console.
......"Show me the current trajectory"
......The technician showed Langdon a computer projection of the satellite's likely path.
......"Collision course,ma’am."
......Shit" , Langdon cursed. "Constellation this is Houston. Lexcorp satellite on collision course. Prepare to abort. I say again, prepare to abort!"
......Over the headset, Captain Dennis replied, "What the fuck! Confirm instructions, Houston. Prepare to abort."
......"Affirmative. Prepare to abort."
......"Copy, Houston. Preparing to..."
......Before Dennis could finish the satellite it the rocket. Langdon could hear the collision over the headset.
......"Impact, Houston! Impact!"
......"Abort, Captain! Abort" , Langdon shouted into her headset.

......Inside the cockpit, Captain Dennis was frantically trying to initiate the release mechanism that would release the capsule that she and her crew were riding in from the rest of the rocket. Once free they could re-enter Earth's atmosphere and parachutes would deploy and bring them back to the ground. That was the abort plan that she and the crew had rehearsed many times. However, the capsule was not releasing. "Houston, this is Constellation. Cannot release capsule. Release mechanism damaged. We're stuck!"

......Langdon's eye turned to a plain gray binder on her desk; the binder that no mission control supervisor ever wants to open; the bind that covered what to do in the even of a spacecraft's catastrophic failure.
......Kara, with her sensitive hearing was fixated on Langdon. She had heard everything. She looked to Sylvia and said ." I have to go."
......Wide eyed, Sylvia turned to Kara and replied, "What?!"
......"I have to go!
......"Now?!"
......"Yes. Now!"
......Sylvia shook her head and then pointed to the exit.
......"Go out that door and go right. Turn right at the next hallway and it will be on your left."
......Kara shook her head and left.
......"What's up with Kara?" Fred asked.
......"She had to go."
......Sylvia turned her attention to her monitor and after a half second froze. Fred had done the same. Their eyes went wide. They then looked to each other and then back to the main screen.

......As Kara ran through the halls of the Johnson Space Center, the molecules of her clothing began to rearrange themselves into a blue and red version of a Kryptonian guardians duty uniform. By the time she hit the front door her clothing was fully changed.
......As she exited the building, Kara had to stop so she would not run over a woman who was entering the build. Seeing Kara's clothing, the woman said "Look at you, girl!"
......Kara held up an index finger and replied "Excuse me." With that, Kara launched into the air.
......The woman's jaw dropped.
......"Oh. I wish I could do that."

......As Langdon watched the rocket's trajectory, she could feel her heart racing and her blood pressure rise.
......"Do you think you could use maneuvering thrusters?"
......"Negative, Houston," Dennis replied. Tried already."
......On the main screen she and everyone else could see that the spacecraft's orbit, such as it was, was rapidly decaying. Langdon could imagine what the crew would experience as the craft burned up re-entry.. She tightly closed her eyes and shook her head in an attempt to shake the thought away.
......"Another bogie on an intercept course!" shouted a technician.
......A second technician responded, "It's a satellite."
......"Negative," the first technician replied. "It's coming from the ground."
......"Bring up the external camera on the main screen," Langdon ordered.
......"It's a missile"
......"Negative. Too small"
......On the main screen a small human form came into view.
......"It's a girl," said the second technician. "It's a girl!"
......The main screen was quickly taken up with a close up view of Kara with red glyph of the House of El on a gold shield background emblazoned on her chest.. The screen showed Kara grabbing onto the rocket. All eyes slowly turned from the main screen to Fred and Sylvia.

......In the Daily Planet bullpen a crowd had gathered in front of a large, flat panel television. Perry White was fixated on the broadcast. Clark and Lois' attentions were captured by the news. The broadcast told of how the Lexcorp satellite had collided with the rocket.
......Clark looked to Lois and said, "I have to..."
......"I know," replied Lois.
......Clark started to walk towards the exit but stopped when he her the announcer say, "I am getting word that they may have some help. It looks like another Kryptonian. Not Superman.
......Clark looked back to the television. On the screen was an grainy image of Kara gripping the underside of the rocket. Clark and Lois looked at each other and beamed with big smile.
......"She can do it." Clark quietly told Lois.
......"Go, Kara." Lois said under her breathe. "Go Kara."
......White overheard Lois and gave her a sideways glance.

......The full weight of the rocket was held up with Kara's comparatively tiny little arms. Intellectually she knew that her body was acting as a biological gravity governor; extending its phantom field around the whole rocket. What she felt, though, was the weight of the rocket in her arms and it was far more of an exertion than she had experienced before.
......She felt the intense heat of the rocket entering the atmosphere but she was soon able to slow the rocket's decent enough that the temperature subsided. The trick now would be to get the rocket down quick enough that she did not tire but slow enough to keep the crew from suffering from the impact. She followed the rocket's path back to the launch site at Cape Canaveral.

......At the Daily Planet, Clark and Lois were wringing their hands but also beaming and they stayed fixated on the television.
......"Come on, Kara. You can do it," whispered Clark.
......Again, Perry White took note.

......At mission control everyone's eyes were locked on the main screen which showed Kara bringing the rocket down in a controlled descent.

......At the rocket, Kara strained under the massive weight of the rocket. The ground was coming up fast. Her whole focus had been to keep the rocket from crashing. She had not really worked out how she was going to place it on the ground. As the ground came up to meet her she exclaimed, "Oh, fuck! Oh, fuck! Oh, fuck! Oh, fuck! Oh, fuck!"
......And then she she felt her feet touch the ground followed by the full weight of the rocket on top of her.

......"She'll be OK," Clark assured Lois.

......While everyone else at mission control was cheering at the site of the rocket safely brought to the ground, Sylvia and Fred kept their eyes on the screen for any sign of Kara.

......An armada of fire engines and ambulances raced to the rocket that laid on its side in a field near the launch pad. Fire fighters pulled hoses from their vehicles and made their way to the rocket. Most of the fuel had already been burned through during the launch but they were not going to take any chances. As they got close to the rocket they saw the ground erupt from beneath. Immediately, they pointed their hoses and took a few steps back. Then they saw two small hands push the dirt away followed by the rest of Kara. Once fully emerged, Kara sat back against the rocket's hull. For a long moment she looked the rocket up and down. It was bigger than she had originally thought it would be.
......"Are you alright." a firefighter asked her.
......Kara gave the firefighter a thumbs up.
......The firefighter turned to the other first responders.
......"Alright. Let's get out people out."
......Kara got up and floated over to the capsule. Once there she opened the capsule door.
......Captain Dennis and her crew were still strapped in. They all stared at Kara who floated in hatch opening. Behind Kara, and ladder truck had backed up and was extending its ladder to the capsule.
......"I hope this doesn't put you off of space travel." said Kara as she smiled at the capsule's occupants. "Statistically speaking, well, in galactic terms, it's still the safest way to travel."
......Kara turned to fly off but stopped when captain Dennis said "Wait. Who are you?"
......Kara turned back to the captain, straightened herself up and smiled.
......"I am Kara, daughter of El, and I'm a friend."
......Video of that moment immediately was sent to mission control and from there along to news networks all around the world.

......Lois and Clark were bouncing up and down with big broad smiles across their faces.
......"She did it! She did it!' laughed Clark.
......"Lane! Kent!" White boomed. "My office. Now!"
......Both Lois and Clark knew that tone. They heard in may times before when they had been in the hot seat with him.
......The two quietly made their way to White's office and closed the door behind them. He sat behind his big oak desk and narrowed his eyes on the pair.
......"Go Kara? Go Kara?" White asked.
......Clark and Lois stood before White and did not say a word.
......"So, just how did you know her name was Kara?"
......Lois opened her mount the speak but White cut her off.
......"Don't answer that."
......Lois shut her mount and stood still.
......"Do you think your the only Pulitzer prize winner in this office?"
......Lois shook her head.
......"Don't you think that I, as a former investigative journalist myself might be able figure out a thing or two about a thing or two."
......They both lowered their heads.
......"This is what I want. This is what you're going to give me. You are going to get an exclusive interview with this Kara, daughter of El. You think you can do that, Lane?"
......Lois immediately gave a nod.
......"And, Kent."
......"Yes sir."
......"You're going to help. Do you think you can do that?"
......"Yes sir."
......"Good. Now get to it."
......Lois had her hand on the door knob and was about to open the door.
......"Oh, and Kent."
......They turned back to White.
......"Yes, sir."
......"Glassed are a crappy disguise."
......Both of them looked down. Clark practically slumped in place.
......"Who else..." Clark started to ask.
......"Everyone," White replied.
......Clark sighed and shook his head.
......White gave a grandfatherly smile. "OK. You go on, now."

......Kara made here way back through the Johnson Space Center. A thought kept repeating itself in her head. I helped. I really helped someone. She marched through the corridors with a smile on her face and a spring in her step. I helped!i>
......Halfway along, her cell phone buzzed. She took it out of her pocket. It was a message from Clark. She opened it to find a selfie picturing Lois and Clark giving thumbs up. She smiled. The text read "So proud of you. You're only going to get stronger." Still smiling she put the phone away.

......Kara walked into mission control and found everyone turning to look at her. Soon, everyone in the room was standing. Then the applause started. Standing in front of them all was Langdon with tears in her eyes. The woman could not hold herself back. She walked over to Kara and hugged her.
......"Thank you!" Langdon was sobbing. "Thank you so very, very much."
......Fred and Sylvia went over and added their own embraces.
......Hugs. Open displays of gratitude Kara thought to her self. This was way different from how people acted on Krypton. Sure, people were thankful but they were always very reserved about it. In that moment she could see why Kal, or rather, Clark loved these people. They loved and found no shame in that. Kara began to feel tears in her own eyes. She looked up and Langdon and said ", It was my honor to help."

Kara El and Supergirl © DC Comics.
All other content © 2017 John Hidalgo, Rōnin Creative Media.