“Heal!”
Rated PG
[Translated from Kryptonian, Kryptonian Dog and Kryptonian Baby Talk]
1======
He felt his ear being gently lifted. A soft, whispered voice sang out, “Tow-Tow.” When there was no response, the voice changed to a sharp, loud squeal and repeated, “TOW-TOW!!!”
Krypto opened one eye to look into the face of the 16 month old girl squatted down to look at him. His days of undisturbed naps came to an end the day she learned to crawl. Now that she was toddling around, there was no place in the house where she couldn’t get to him. He loved her more than anyone or anything but he yearned for a little sleep … and he couldn’t always nap when she did. He was a working dog, after all. The little girl smiled when his second eye opened and she said, “Tow-Tow! Up! Up now!”
Krypto focused his thoughts and telepathically told Kayla, “My name is KRYPTO! You know that!”
Kayla used her sweetest, gentlest voice to say, “Tip-Tow, up now?”
Krypto said, “It’s been a hard day. Your Da-Da is having lunch. I just wanted a little nap.”
Exactly as before, Kayla asked, “Tip-Tow, up now?”
Krypto asked, “Can’t we play later?”
A little sharpness returned to her voice as she answered, “No Tip-Toe, NOW!”
Krypto exhaled sharply then got to his feet and shook off the grogginess. He thought without projecting it, “She NEVER gives up! Just like her old man!” He looked at Kayla and blinked a couple times. Kayla’s jaw dropped open in excitement and she turned and ran off screaming. Krypto knew that this was his cue. He galloped after her through the rooms of the house. She hid behind furniture and under furniture and Krypto did his best to not find her too quickly. He walked slowly past one of her hiding places and pretended not to know where she was. He stopped and braced himself. She jumped out and grabbed him around the waist and began wrestling with him as she giggled and laughed uncontrollably. He let her push him to the floor just like he had every time she had tackled him since she had thought up this game a couple weeks before. It seemed to him like only yesterday when she began pulling herself up by grabbing his neck and taking her first cautious steps. She was the first strictly humanoid baby that he had helped raise and he was totally devoted to her.
The game was suddenly interrupted. Krypto smelled that something was wrong. He stood up and Kayla rolled off of him. Kayla started to get up. Krypto put a paw on her chest and said, “Stay!” Kayla tried to get up again and Krypto repeated, “Kayla, stay! This is NO game! Do NOT follow me!”
Krypto ran to the lab. He could smell a reaction going on between some chemicals that Jor-El had combined earlier that day. The compound had seemed inert and had been left unattended since an hour before lunch. Krypto didn’t know if he could stop the reaction or contain it. He quickly began hitting controls that lowered the other chemicals in the lab into the countertops on which they were sitting. With the other chemicals safely sealed away so there wouldn’t be a chain reaction, Krypto approached the vial of chemicals as they reached a critical temperature. He was thinking about taking human form to deal with it when the vial exploded. Krypto was thrown across the room. He had several deep cuts and chemical burns.
Jor-El heard the explosion and ran into the lab. He felt Krypto’s pulse then ran into his office. He ordered the office assistant to contact the authorities. A regent answered the call. Jor-El said, “There has been a lab accident. My colleague is seriously injured. I need permission to have a healing fire. I need it IMMEDIATELY or he will die!”
The regent asked, “He is an energy feeder?”
Jor-El said, “Of course! I wouldn’t put him in a fire if he wasn’t.”
The regent said, “Display his image.” Jor-El complied by punching a couple buttons. The regent said, “That is an animal.”
Jor-El said, “He is a member of the versa-form species.”
The regent said, “Oh! One of those. And an energy feeder as well? I didn’t know that you could be both!”
Jor-El said, “There isn’t time for me to give you a history lesson! Issue the permit! He’ll die!”
The regent said, “What does one life matter when weighed against the risk of unleashing one of your kind! I won’t be rushed into a decision that could result in another race war!”
Jor-El said, “You … You …! Check the priority rating on my research! My work will suffer in my colleague dies. Issue the permit!”
The regent answered, “Very well. Set it up. A guardian will be sent to observe to ensure that no abuse of power takes place. Take any threatening action and there will be severe consequences! Are you familiar with the Phantom Zone?!”
Jor-El said, “Familiar with it? I invented it!” He cut off the transmission before adding, “You bigoted moron!”
2======
While Jor-El was pleading his case to the regent, Kayla wandered into the lab looking for her playmate. She squatted next to Krypto and softly said, “Tip-Tow. Up now? … Up now … oh-tay?” When Krypto didn’t answer or move, Kayla said, “Oh-tay. Nap nap now.” Kayla laid down behind Krypto and wrapped her pudgy arms around her neck. She pulled him close and felt sharp pain all over. She knew it was their pain even though she had now words to express what she was feeling. She pulled herself even closer to him for comfort and the pain increased. She wanted the pain to stop, but she knew somehow that Krypto’s pain had to stop before her pain could. She said, “Ow-ow! No! Tip-Tow! No! Tip-Tow!” She closed her eyes tightly and buried her face into the back of his head. She held him as tightly as she could while she softly cried. Soon she couldn’t feel his pain anymore … only hers … and she couldn’t bear it. Then there was nothing but blackness.
3======
Jor-El heard Alura scream. He yelled to her, “It’s okay, Alura. I’ve called the authorities. We are permitted a healing fire. A Guardian will be here to observe shortly.”
Alura screamed, “What’s wrong with her?!”
Jor-El returned to the lab saying, “Her? Don’t let Krypto hear you calling him a her!”
Jor-El looked at Alura kneeling next to Krypto. He could barely make out Kayla’s body tightly pulled up against Krypto’s fur. He quickly got down next to his wife and pulled Kayla’s arms from around Krypto. Krypto got up and shook himself. He said, “What happened? DEAR RAO! KAYLA!!!”
Jor-El looked at Kayla’s injuries and said, “This isn’t possible! There hasn’t been a reported case of an empath being born in centuries!”
Alura cried, “What happened to my baby?!”
Jor-El said, “It was Krypto that got hurt. Kayla took his injuries.”
Alura said, “What do you mean “took” ??? You’re not making any sense.”
Jor-El said, “Her nervous system joined in sympathy with his to such an extent that her body mimicked his cuts and burns. She sent her life energy into him to the point where she left next to nothing for herself. She wasn’t strong enough to do what she tried to do. She needs to be in the fire now! And when the guardian arrives, he must not know what she is!” Alura stood and quickly started disrobing. Jor-El said, “No, I’ll take her into the flames.”
Alura said, “I don’t know how to work the controls. I can do this. I know how to hold my baby and how to comfort her if … when she wakes up!”
Jor-El said, “Well, hurry then!”
Jor-El took Kayla’s play suit off and handed her to his wife. Alura carried Kayla to a small circular platform on the patio area close to the lab’s outside entrance. Jor-El stood in front of them and recited a code that the regent had transmitted to him. At Jor-El’s command, the flames began to grow at Alura’s feet. Slowly the flames grew to 8 feet in height.
The guardian arrived almost immediately. He shouted, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! You aren’t supposed to initiate a fire before a guardian is present! And wasn’t it supposed to be an ANIMAL getting the treatment?”
Jor-El said, “It was a big mistake. My daughter Kayla was injured and Krypto was lying on her to keep her from going into shock. I saw all the blood and acted quickly. I didn’t know that it was my daughter that needs the treatment when I placed the call.”
The guardian said, “Then the permit was granted based on false information. You must reapply!”
Jor-El said, “We can’t stop now. She’ll die!”
The guardian asked, “Why are there two in the flame? Which one is your daughter – the big one or the small one?”
Jor-El said, “The big one is my wife. The small one is my daughter.”
The guardian asked, “Why is your wife in there?”
Jor-El answered, “So that my daughter won’t be scared when she wakes up … to keep her in the flames until the treatment is over.”
The guardian said, “It is illegal for a healthy person to enter the flames!” He pulled a weapon, pointed it at Alura and shouted, “Get out of the flames … NOW!” Alura’s eyes glowed and the weapon got too hot for the guardian to hold onto. He dropped it. He shouted, “You will be arrested and zoned!”
Jor-El said, “We’re not planning to take over the world government. We’re just trying to save our daughter’s life!”
The guardian said, “Your kind can’t be trusted!”
Jor-El said, “I’m not asking you to trust us. Stay here until my daughter recovers. As soon as that happens, my wife will leave the flames. You can stay with us as a guest in our home until she returns to normal.”
The guardian said, “I’ll take her to a holding cell!”
Jor-El said, “The girl needs her Mother!”
The guardian said, “Good, because they are both going for observation. Then, unless you have some extraordinary influence, you and your wife will be zoned and your daughter will be raised by a foster family!”
True to his word, the guardian waited only long enough for Alura and Kayla to dress before taking them into custody for round the clock observation. When a pin prick test was finally able to draw blood from Alura the following day, Alura and Kayla were allowed to return home. Before that happened, all the charges against the family had been dropped.
4======
Alura found Jor-El sitting in the front room doing nothing when she arrived home with Kayla. She put Kayla down for a nap before returning to talk to Jor-El. She knew something was very wrong because Jor-El never just sat and did nothing. She said, “Jor-El, what’s wrong? Don’t you want to give me a proper welcome home?”
Jor-El mumbled, “It’s pointless. Everything is pointless. Krypton is doomed. I hoped that, at the very least, I would get you, me, Kayla, Kayla’s future mate and Krypto off this planet before the end. But it doesn’t matter anymore.”
Alura said, “That’s crazy! Of COURSE it matters. Why wouldn’t it matter? Have you decided that Krypton isn’t going to explode?”
Jor-El said, “Something or someone is keeping the planet together for the moment somehow, but it can’t possibly last. Krypton will explode eventually. It’s just a question of time.”
Alura said, “Then I repeat, why would it NOT matter whether we escape?”
Jor-El answered, “We needed a bigger genetic base than just our family to ensure that our species will continue into the future. It was a long shot with just us, but without Kayla … it’s just pointless.”
Alura said, “What do you mean ‘without Kayla?!’”
Jor-El said, “Kayla is flawed. She will never survive to have children.”
Alura shouted, “FLAWED! How could you say that?”
Jor-El said, “Kayla is a descendant of warrior women. We knew that and I was prepared to condition her as our people have conditioned females for generations. But a warrior/empath? If Kayla sees someone is sick, she will be irresistibly drawn to them. She will try to heal them … and true empaths have very little instinct for self-preservation. She will use all her energy to save a life. For our species to survive, we need the colonists that we send to Earth to be self-centered and always thinking of protecting themselves. Kayla isn’t even fit to survive here. From now on, we must never let her associate with other people. It will literally the death of her to meet anyone who is seriously ill. And if her secret becomes known. She will be taken from us and exploited. Her life will be forfeited to save the life of someone that the government values.”
Alura said, “But, once we get to Earth, everything will be different. She will have plenty of energy to spare … and she’ll be nearly indestructible.”
Jor-El said, “You under estimate just how sick the people of Earth are … and how irritating they are! If we can’t tame Kayla, she’ll get angry and try to kill them … then feel equally driven to heal them. As a scientist, I can not put the survival of our race and our culture into her hands!”
Alura said, “And as her FATHER??? What value does Kayla’s life have to her Father?!”
Jor-El said, “That’s the problem! If she doesn’t go, I don’t want to go either. It has been a struggle to keep going when no one believes that Krypton is doomed. The drive I had to develop a means to get us safely to Earth without the knowledge of Planetary Counsel … that drive is gone now. I haven’t worked at all since the guardian took you and Kayla away. I’m done.”
Alura said, “No, I’M DONE! I’m going out for the day and I’m taking Krypto with me. You spend the day taking care of your daughter and if you still think she is flawed by the time I get home … I’ll … I’ll …. Well, maybe I’ll take her and go pay your brother a visit. He was pretty upset when I chose you over him. I think he will take me in … and have an appreciation for your daughter that you seem to lack!”
5======
Six hours later, Alura returned to find Jor-El working on the prototype spaceship while Kayla was playing with a pile of Jor-El’s tools. He didn’t turn to look at Alura. He said, “When we get to Earth, no one will ever get near Kayla except you, me and her mate and only when we are in optimum health. From now on, do not speak any Earth languages in her presence. It is the only way … the ONLY way!”
THE END