The Planet Collector Read online

  CHITTER! CHITTER!

  They made nervous sounds and jumped back in alarm as Superman zoomed past them and down the hole.

  “Sorry to startle you!” Superman apologized, even though he knew they couldn’t understand him. He continued deeper into the asteroid ship.

  The Man of Steel groaned. “There must be more Kryptonite nearby,” he said.

  Superman used his X-ray vision to scout ahead. His super-vision revealed a startling surprise.

  “Another habitat,” Superman said. “And it’s from Krypton!”

  Superman scanned the city buried below him at the end of the tunnel. He recognized the architecture and the clothing. They were from a bygone era in Krypton’s history.

  The people also looked a lot like him. The buildings were ancient and had been repaired over and over again. There were no vehicles. Funny-looking solar panels sprouted from most of the buildings. The citizens walked along streets that were overgrown with massive trees and other plant life. It was clear that the vegetation had been there a long, long time.

  “The deeper into the ship I travel, the older each civilization is,” Superman said. “This colony is over a thousand years . . . and its people are my ancestors!”

  Superman’s super-vision revealed why he was feeling so weak: a glowing red sphere hovered above the city.

  “The habitat has a red sun,” Superman realized. “It maintains a Kryptonian environment, which means I have no superpowers under its rays.”

  The Man of Steel could not enter the Kryptonian habitat. He had discovered a living part of his destroyed home world, but he could not set foot on its soil or he would lose his superpowers.

  The missiles had come from the Kryptonian colony. When the weapons exploded outside the red-sun environment, they formed puffs of Kryptonite dust.

  But it was obvious that the inhabitants had not fired the missiles. Their level of technology had vanished over the many centuries.

  So if these people didn’t launch the missiles, Superman thought, then who did?

  Superman flew up the missile tunnel, away from the buried Kryptonian city. It made him sad to leave. It would have been wonderful to meet people who shared a common ancestry with him, especially considering he knew very little about his home planet, Krypton.

  Superman knew that entering their habitat would have stripped away his superpowers, but that fact didn’t make him feel any better about leaving. Ultimately, he would need those abilities to save Metropolis. And so he sacrificed his only chance at visiting a piece of his former home in order to rescue his current one.

  “Well, the mystery of where the missiles came from is solved,” Superman said as he flew back up the tunnel. “But I still don’t know who fired them, or why.”

  RUMMMMBLE!

  The Man of Steel collapsed the walls as he passed, filling in the tunnel.

  PAT! PAT! THUD!

  Using the nearby debris, Superman repaired the gaping holes in the ground in each habitat, as well.

  ZRRT! ZRRT! ZRRT!

  He sealed the openings in the rock domes with his heat vision. All of the ancient cities were safe now.

  * * *

  Metropolis was calm when Superman finally returned. It seemed like any other night in a great metropolitan city.

  BEEP BEEP HONK!

  Traffic was busy as ever, but the citizens were mostly peaceful. They walked the streets, doing their shopping and playing in the parks.

  But Superman knew that things were not normal. Although the citizens couldn’t see it, Planet Earth was in the sky, high above the city, instead of the moon!

  SZZZZZZT!

  Suddenly something sizzled beneath Superman’s feet. A bright, hot spot melted the pavement.

  WOOOOOSH!

  The Man of Steel inhaled, preparing to use his freezing super-breath.

  ZRRRT! WIRRRRRT!

  Suddenly, Superman saw a small, metallic sphere emerge from the molten hole that formed in the ground. He slowly released his breath, giving the entity a chance to explain itself — whatever it was.

  “What is going on here?” Superman said. “Who — or what — are you?”

  The sphere floated up to meet Superman’s eyes. “Kryptonian,” it said. “I require your assistance.”

  The Man of Steel could hardly believe his ears. Now he knew who was behind the current danger to Metropolis.

  “Brainiac!” Superman said. “Are you responsible for all of this?!”

  “I do not deny my involvement,” Brainiac said flatly.

  “Why? What’s your scheme this time?” Superman asked.

  “As I said, I require your assistance,” Brainiac said.

  FZZT! CRACKLE!

  The orb crackled and glowed with an alien energy.

  “And so you take all of Metropolis hostage?” Superman said. “That’s an extreme — and dangerous — way to get my attention.”

  “I had no intention of attracting your notice, but all other options have failed,” Brainiac said. “I am trapped on this asteroid ship, just like Metropolis is now. Destroy this vessel, and you will free us both. If you do not destroy it, we are both stuck here. For eternity.”

  Superman smirked. “So, the spider is caught in another spider’s web,” he said.

  “That is an interesting analogy. I’ve never been compared to an arachnid before,” Brainiac said. “We will have to discuss the merits of that comparison later. But the fact remains: I am trapped here along with your home.”

  The orb inched closer to Superman’s face. “So, Kryptonian, will you assist me in this task or not?”

  “If it means I can free Metropolis, yes, I’ll help you,” Superman said.

  The orb blinked. “Good,” Brainiac said. “The easiest way to destroy this ship is to —”

  “I will not destroy this ship,” Superman interrupted. “There are sentient beings on board.”

  “Then your sentimental attachments will trap us here forever,” Brainiac said.

  “I will find a way,” Superman said.

  “I calculate your odds of success to be quite small,” Brainiac said.

  “That’s a chance I’ll have to take,” Superman said.

  CHAPTER 4

  UNEASY ALLIES

  Superman looked up. A glowing yellow sphere started to form above Metropolis. A substitute sun was beginning to grow.

  Superman realized that once the Earth-like environment was complete, Metropolis would become just like the other colonies on the alien ship. It would be trapped forever, gradually buried under layers of rock and space debris. He needed to free the city, and fast.

  “I need to find the control center of this ship,” Superman said.

  “I have access to diagrams of the vessel’s layout,” Brainiac said. The drone projected a holographic image of the asteroid ship.

  ZRRRT!

  Superman used his super-vision to examine the vessel. “The core of the actual vessel isn’t very large, but the layers of accumulated debris are extremely thick,” Superman observed. “This thing has been out here for at least twenty thousand years.”

  “Your estimate is reasonable,” Brainiac said in agreement.

  “It will take a while to tunnel down to the control core, even using my heat vision,” Superman said. “How powerful is the cutting beam on this drone of yours?”

  The Man of Steel did not wait for an answer.

  ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!

  Superman directed bursts of his heat vision at the ground.

  CRRRRRUMMMMBLE! RRRRRRUMMMMBLE!

  Street pavement melted and shattered. Superman then began to dig with his hands and fists, burrowing through a spot in the city’s foundation and into the asteroid.

  “Come on, drone, give me a hand,” Superman said.

  The Man of Steel disappeared below the surface.


  FZZZZT! CRACK-ACKLE!

  The drone fired its cutting beams and followed.

  The pair drilled their way down through the deep layers of the asteroid ship. Superman switched between his heat vision and his X-ray vision so he could avoid tunneling through any habitats.

  KIRRRRRRRSH!

  The drone continued to bore with its cutting beam alongside the Man of Steel. All the while, Brainiac monitored their progress from his skull-ship.

  A short while later, Superman’s heat vision encountered metal instead of stone.

  “I’ve reached the hull of the ship,” the Man of Steel said.

  TSSSSSSSSSS!

  He melted a small hole and grabbed the molten edges with his invulnerable hands.

  SKREEEEEE!

  Superman used his super-strength to rip open the vessel’s metal hull like a cardboard box.

  Inside, it was like a huge, hollow ball.

  Superman estimated that the ball’s diameter was as wide as ten football stadiums. Floating at the center was a shiny metal sphere.

  The Man of Steel used his X-ray vision to examine the alien globe. Brainiac used the drone’s sensors to scan it, too.

  ZWOOM!

  A spiral beam of energy struck Superman in the chest. The force almost knocked the Man of Steel back out of the opening in the hull.

  ZWOOM!

  A second blast instantly destroyed Brainiac’s drone.

  “I must have activated an automatic defense system,” Superman said. “If not, I’ve just made a bad first impression on whoever is controlling this ship.”

  * * *

  Back on the skull-ship, Brainiac sat at the control panel. The drone’s monitoring system had gone completely blank. The last bytes of information from the sensor sweep showed a sudden surge of energy.

  “I must find another method of monitoring Superman’s actions,” Brainiac said.

  He still did not want to risk attracting the attention of the alien being, so he searched minor, relatively unimportant data nodes.

  An information trail led Brainiac to a weapons activation system. There, he saw the alien ship deploy defensive weapons against its intruder, the Man of Steel.

  “Interesting. The defense array is drawing a large percentage of the alien’s focus away from other priorities,” Brainiac observed. “Superman is finally engaging its attention as I had planned.”

  Brainiac studied the holographic diagram of the vessel’s layout. He tracked command paths and data streams.

  “While Superman distracts the ship’s mind, I can enter its command nodes and deactivate the force field that holds me,” Brainiac determined. “I can escape.”

  Brainiac sent the electronic order for the force field to disappear from around his ship. He waited. And waited.

  “No result,” Brainiac observed after a few minutes. “That is unacceptable.”

  Brainiac was determined to escape the alien vessel at all costs, and that included the destruction of the ship and everything on board. It would be unfortunate to lose the data and information the ship’s mind had collected over the centuries. However, survival was Brainiac’s first priority.

  Brainiac sent a command pulse to the weapons array, launching the entire alien arsenal at the Man of Steel. “An all-out assault will incite Superman to take extreme measures,” Brainiac calculated. “He will do what I command — one way or another.”

  “It’s stealing my memories!” Superman said.

  The Man of Steel began to see his life pass before his mind’s eye. His memories went all the way back to the haziest moment he’d left Krypton. As a baby, he saw his father’s face lean over him. He felt his mother gently tuck a blanket around him.

  WOOOOOOOSH!

  Then there was nothing but a roaring sound and movement.

  The Man of Steel twisted inside the blob-like alien’s trap in an attempt to escape. That’s when he saw the disaster unfolding far below him.

  “The robot I defeated a minute ago crashed and ripped open a habitat on the other side of the hull!” Superman realized. “I have to save those people!”

  As soon as he said the words, the gooey trap dissolved. He did not know why, but there wasn’t any time to care at the moment.

  Superman’s only concern was saving lives. He flew at super-speed to the rescue!

  CHAPTER 5

  A MEETING OF THE MINDS

  ZOOOOM!

  The Man of Steel raced at top speed toward the disaster inside the alien ship. One of the most ancient habitats in the universe was in danger of being destroyed. It was built on the first layer of the alien ship’s outer hull, and now the hull was ripped open. Parts of the city and its inhabitants were falling into the hollow core of the ancient alien vessel.

  SWOOOOOOOSH!

  Superman swooped at super-speed. He snatched up as many citizens as he could out of the air and flew them to safety. At the same time, he carefully blew out puffs of his super-breath.

  POOOF! POOF!

  The breaths gently pushed people back up through the hole to their habitat.

  A few moments later, everyone was returned and safe. But the job wasn’t done just yet.

  FZZZZZZZZZT! ZRRRRRRRRT!

  Superman sealed the opening with his heat vision. They would be safe inside their home now.

  CRACKLE-FZZZZZT!

  A ball of energy flew toward Superman. “Uh-oh,” Superman said. “Here comes more trouble.”

  Superman braced himself for a battle with the newly arrived menace. But the object did not attack him. Instead, it stopped and hovered a few feet away from the Man of Steel.

  KIRSSSH-ZRRRT-WIRRRSH!

  “Greetings, Kryptonian,” said the energy sphere. It sounded more like garbled electronic feedback than a voice.

  Superman raised an eyebrow. “Um . . . hello,” he said.

  “You saved the people of the planet Zonos from harm,” the orb said.

  Superman nodded. “They were in danger,” he said.

  “Your behavior is uncommon,” the sphere continued. “You are a unique specimen.”

  “Thanks, I guess,” Superman said. “Who are you?”

  “I will show you. Please follow this entity,” the crackling energy ball instructed.

  The orb headed toward the central sphere. “How can I refuse such a friendly invitation?” Superman said.

  The orb took its time moving toward its objective, but Superman didn’t mind one bit. He didn’t ask it to speed up, he just walked behind it patiently. While he had no reason to question who or what the sphere was, he couldn’t trust it yet, either. So he made sure to scan as much of the area as possible as they moved.

  When they reached the central sphere, a large hatch opened on its surface. The orb dissolved. Its mission was complete.

  The moment Superman entered the doorway, a brilliant flash of light illuminated his surroundings.

  “Does this Kryptonian interface image comfort you?” the image asked. “There was sadness in your memories.”

  “You saw my past with that organic blob,” Superman said. “Krypton is gone.”

  “Krypton is not gone,” the image said. “The city of Cythonnia still lives.”

  “Cythonnia is a myth,” Superman said. Then a realization hit him. “Unless . . . the colony I saw on this ship is Cythonnia!”

  “As long as Cythonnia lives, so does the heritage of Krypton,” the image said. “That is my mission, for I am a collector. I preserve samples of dying worlds.”

  “But Metropolis isn’t part of a dying world,” Superman told the glowing figure. “Why did you take it?”

  The alien sentience did not have a quick answer to the Man of Steel’s question. It seemed uncertain. It hesitated. Terabytes of information flowed through its data pathways as it accessed volumes of information.

  �
��I . . . ,” the image said. “I cannot remember why I took Metropolis.”

  * * *

  “Success,” Brainiac said. “The alien mind is distracted by a simple query from the Kryptonian. Unexpected.”

  He did not want to admit that he was surprised. Brainiac considered himself the superior intellect in all things. But all the same, he took immediate advantage of the opportunity.

  Brainiac accessed the alien ship’s force field array. He did not try to hide his activity this time since the alien sentience wasn’t watching. It was dealing with Superman’s question. Brainiac located the commands that held the skull-ship and turned them off. The shimmering canopy above his spaceship disappeared.

  “Engine systems on,” Brainiac commanded. His ship roared to life. “Launch.”

  The skull-shaped spacecraft lifted up and away from the surface of the alien vessel.

  Brainiac did not look behind him. Everything he had done was logical. He had escaped. He had survived.

  “Our alliance is concluded, Kryptonian,” Brainiac said, even though he knew Superman could not hear him.

  * * *

  “Our alliance is concluded, Kryptonian.” Superman heard the voice of Brainiac echo inside the command sphere of the alien ship.

  The large image of Kryptonian Superman broke apart.