Deep space stretched boundless and lifeless, cold and lonely, vast and eternal, steeped in enduring darkness.
The stars glittering in the sky were nothing more than insignificant embellishments in this immense universe.
In this dark, cold universe, beneath a sky dotted with stars, a battered Kryptonian space exploration vessel drifted through the lonely void. It measured a hundred and sixty meters long, fifty meters high, and ninety meters wide, its surface pitted and damaged, with the livery of the Kryptonian Science Institute painted on its sloping hull.
Inside the vessel.
The life-support chamber.
In the dark, chilly life-support chamber, wall lamps suddenly lit up without a sound, illuminating the entire single-occupant room as brightly as daylight.
The chamber held only a single Cryo-Pod.
Hiss...
The Cryo-Pod made a sound as its lid automatically creaked open. Cold white vapor instantly spilled out, spreading throughout the life-support chamber.
With the chamber shrouded in freezing white mist, projection beams suddenly shot from gaps in the walls, forming the image of a middle-aged man with wise eyes and a composed expression.
"The ship passed through an asteroid belt and consumed too much crystal energy. Has it already reached the point where it must awaken its occupant to decide its final course...?"
The middle-aged man's wise eyes filled with conflicting emotions.
No ship's intelligent system could decide its final course in place of the living beings aboard.
Sometimes, a sudden flash of inspiration could find a way out of certain death better than an intelligent system could.
At the final moment, whether they lived or died, Kryptonians had the right to decide their ultimate fate. This was the final authority guaranteed to a ship's occupants by the Kryptonian Life Council.
Within the cold white mist.
He-El abruptly opened his eyes as he lay in the Cryo-Pod. Even though the pod had finished warming up, it still felt cold against his skin. Threads of chill seeped into every pore, while his heart beat powerfully, pumping blood throughout his body and warming the flesh beneath his skin.
His fingers twitched lightly, and his eyes focused, shedding the confusion of awakening. He drew a deep breath of icy air into his lungs. The sting of that cold breath traveling down his throat and windpipe into his lungs made him feel his own existence. Strength gathered from deep within his marrow and blood, filling his muscles with power once more.
Bracing his sturdy body with both hands, He-El sat up.
"It worked."
He had handsome features and a warm, open face. A smile appeared, his black hair falling below his shoulders. His focused eyes were as deep as black holes, carrying an unhurried confidence as he looked toward the figure projected beyond the cold white mist.
"Father, is that you?"
He-El rose from the Cryo-Pod, his tall silhouette emerging from the freezing white mist. He was tall and powerfully built, his skin hugging the contours of his muscles, outlining a perfect embodiment of masculine vitality.
Joy and puzzlement appeared in his eyes at just the right moment as he asked, "Father, you've awakened me now. Did we succeed?"
Jor-El's already conflicted gaze grew even more troubled when he saw He-El emerge from the white mist. An indescribable sadness shadowed his face as he forced a smile. "He-El, perhaps you should take a look in the main control room."
"Hm?"
He-El showed only mild confusion on the surface, but inwardly, he knew this was probably the worst outcome he had anticipated.
Yet He-El felt no disappointment, because leaving Krypton had already marked the beginning of the best journey.
Ignoring Jor-El's projection, he strode through the white mist and headed straight for the main control room, a lingering chill still clinging to his skin. Throughout that short walk, He-El kept chatting with Jor-El, reminiscing about the various research projects they had worked on together when Jor-El had been his mentor at the university.
He reminisced about Krypton's countless strange landscapes, every bruise from sparring with Zod, the knowing smiles he and Kara had shared after being caught speeding in a flying car, and the meals his adoptive mother Lara had prepared.
His time on Krypton's surface had been fulfilling in a way his previous life never had.
Jor-El's projection appeared alongside He-El as he walked, falling silent whenever He-El recalled their time together on Krypton.
The main control room was actually quite bare, containing only the main console and a steel seat nearby. The open space around them was used to project a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of the stars outside the ship.
With the intelligent system, the commander needed only to issue an order for everything to be carried out.
And aboard this space exploration vessel, there was only He-El, along with his adoptive father, Jor-El, who had uploaded a portion of his own consciousness when the ship took off.
He-El entered the main control room. When he saw that the projected three-hundred-and-sixty-five-degree view of the stars bore no resemblance to what he remembered, his brow twitched.
He had been frozen for some time. Before entering cryostasis, he had ordered the ship to head toward a system with a yellow sun, provided it could do so safely.
He-El's gaze swept over the stars projected in the main control room. Clearly, Dawn had not found a yellow sun, nor had it followed his designated coordinates. It had strayed so far that locating Earth would be difficult.
"Dawn, report the ship's current status."
He-El issued the command.
Rows of projected data appeared before He-El, along with an animated projection showing the ship's damaged sections.
Dawn's intelligent system provided explanations as they appeared.
"Crystal Core Engine energy remaining: 3%..."
"Energy shield offline..."
"Internal-cycle radiation barrier activating..."
"Damage to the ship's outermost hull has reached 64%. Engineering machinery is removing damaged outer sections and reinforcing the inner hull."
"Estimated sustainable drift time: eighteen years..."
"Please designate a destination for drift navigation..."
Aimless drifting...
He-El's heart sank. So you really did act against me, my dear father!
"Open the navigation log."
As expected, the navigation log was completely blank.
Expressionless, He-El silently sat down in the steel seat. He rested his elbows on the cold armrests and interlaced his fingers before the bridge of his nose, his visible eyes deep and resolute.
Amid that glittering expanse of stars, he sat upright in the steel seat in silence.
If he could have avoided it, he truly would not have wanted things to reach this point.
Projection beams shot through the main control room, forming Jor-El's figure. As he looked at He-El sitting in the steel seat, guilt and anguish showed in his eyes.
"He-El..."
"Father, why did you do this? In just two years, you depleted the Crystal Core Engine's energy to 3%, changed the original course, and left the ship drifting aimlessly, until Dawn calculated that there was no chance of survival and awakened me."
There was no longer any joy at seeing his father in He-El's voice.
Since things had reached this point, he was willing to inflict even the slightest shred of pain on Jor-El.
"Enough, He-El. There is no need to question me, nor any need to put on an act to make this fragment of my consciousness suffer unspoken guilt and unease. When I copied this portion of my consciousness onto the ship, it was indeed a difficult choice. It was hard to believe you could be such a person. But the fact that this consciousness is here means that no fluctuation in its emotions can change the decision I made back then."
Jor-El's expression of guilt and anguish froze.
Abandoning his own son in the vast, lifeless, lonely, freezing depths of space had not been easy on him.
"I don't understand. Aren't our goals the same? Isn't saving Krypton our duty?"
He-El's voice rang firm and resolute.
Before he boarded this ship, before Jor-El secretly proposed copying a portion of his consciousness onto the Dawn Explorer, they had always been an exemplary father and son.
Krypton's most respected scientist, Jor-El, and his son, He-El, who possessed so many excellent qualities: love for Krypton, an easygoing nature, kindness, generosity, cheerfulness, steadiness, intelligence, integrity, a sense of justice, fairness, broad-mindedness, optimism, handsome looks, strength, honesty, magnanimity, sincerity, enthusiasm, perseverance, courage, decisiveness, and quick wit.
They had always been the most celebrated father and son at the Kryptonian Academy of Sciences.
Every scientist believed that Krypton's bright future rested in their hands.
And now... my father actually... stabbed me in the back!
He exiled me to drift through the depths of space.
A faint trace of regret crossed He-El's mind.
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