He-El flew out of the Starry Sky Explorer's hatch, his body floating in space as the black cape behind him drifted weightlessly.
What lay before his eyes was no different from the projection in the command room.
Massive clusters of gray dust hung over the original site of Krypton, filled with terrifying, chaotic high-energy radiation. Plasma-like streams of light occasionally flickered within them.
A strange crimson glow reflected along the edges of the gray dust clusters. It was light from a red sun, far too weak to penetrate the dust clouds and able only to flow along their fringes.
Even with a body as powerful as He-El's, he did not dare enter the dust-radiation clusters rashly. The high-energy radiation within—polarized non-thermal radio radiation, high-energy electron radiation streams, secondary cosmic-ray particles, high-energy gamma radiation, and even residual gamma rays—could all potentially cause catastrophic destruction to living cells.
Red sunlight began to slant through the dust-radiation clusters, shining onto He-El's fair face and casting a crimson glow across his firm, resolute features.
The genes within his body began to close automatically. Rather than absorbing radiation to strengthen himself, his genetic chains shut down numerous absorption channels, and most of the underlying spiral gene chains ceased functioning.
Although his body still retained energy, he could no longer absorb and convert energy from the outside world.
"Red sun... does it shut them down?"
A red glow washed across He-El's face as contemplation flashed through his eyes.
A red sun shut down a Kryptonian's ability to draw energy from the outside world, while the Kryptonian atmosphere degraded the cells that absorbed energy.
Until Kryptonians became ordinary biological lifeforms on Krypton.
During the era of Ancient Krypton, after losing an interstellar war, they found a way to preserve Krypton's legacy: under the light of a red