Jor-el smiled as he replied, "The entertainment industry aside, I'm very glad you aren't afraid. I don't like scaring anyone that doesn't deserve it. The only reason I spoke up was to preserve the crystals. They contain the wisdom of an entire world, and are the birthright of my son, Kal-El. I believe you know him as Ranma."
Nabiki frowned, "Ranma is Aunt Nodoka's kid!" She didn't understand what he meant, and Nabiki always hated not knowing something.
Jor-El explained, "He is, as Nodoka and Genma adopted him. Before I died, I was a scientist. I don't usually boast, but I was very good, and my wife, Lara, was a very close second." He sighed. "When we discovered my home of Krypton was about to destroy itself, we warned the ruling council so they could evacuate everyone. For complicated reasons, they chose to let Krypton's people die with the planet, and outright ordered Lara and me to not warn anyone or try to leave." His voice carried nothing but honest regret as he expanded, "These were our leaders. I voted for them, as did Lara. Although we disagreed with their reasoning, they made a strong enough case we felt we had to comply. Fortunately, they never said our baby Kal had to die with us, so we could at least save him. I'm convinced that that was on purpose, having had some time to reflect on my living self's last days."
A horrified Kasumi gasped, "Why would anyone let everyone they were supposed to care for die? What do you mean, living self?"
Jor-El bowed his head. "In reverse order, I'm not a ghost like ghost stories, I'm a memory. I literally am the mind and memories of Jor-El, Kal's father. The computer core he built recorded everything he and Lara knew and thought right up until Krypton exploded, as well as every single record and bit of information Krypton possessed. Although your sister could not actually take them from their setting, I spoke to let her know the crystals the core grew were not hers. They are Ranma's, as Ranma was and is also Kal-El, heir to all that remains of the planet Krypton. We're here so I and Lara's memory can teach him that wisdom while Genma teaches him the Martial Arts."
Nabiki forgot her sore knee entirely as she asked, "But why did your leaders let everyone die?"
Jor-El looked the girls in the eyes with a sad but resolute expression. "The stars you see in the sky are all suns, and many have planets around them the way Earth goes around your sun. Krypton was a much larger, denser world, orbiting a redder sun. Because of that, the council feared what our people could become off our world. Everything weighed much more there, and everything living there received redder light and had to do more with it to survive. Idiubt you've been taught yet, but your own skin makes some nutrition from the sunlight warming it. It doesn't make much, but it does make some. Our skin did so as well. The council knew that Kryptonian life that adapted to live off of our planet would be much stronger and more powerful than most other lifeforms, especially in the light of a yellow sun. A great many suns are yellow, including yours."
He sighed and continued, "Billions of super-powered beings would have wreaked havoc across the galaxy. I have come to accept the Council's judgement about that, harsh though it was. But they think a single survivor would be a Galactic threat, or they would have ordered me to keep Kal as well. In that spirit, I am teaching Kal of my world, but Genma and Nodoka are raising Kal as their own son. He is Ranma Saotome and has every right to be.
The scientist's memory confessed, "The truth of the matter is that I would have waited for Ranma's maturity before urging Genma to toss the core here and create this Fortress from it. However, your Art needs to be taught from an early age to not be forced to resort to foul tactics in teaching it, as Genma and your father had to face. This fortress has a chamber in it that Ranma trains in where conditions are like Krypton, but even harsher."
Akane suddenly nodded. "I get it! You have him training hard like he was back home with you so he can really get strong, not just coast on what the sun gives him!" Akane always was a bright girl for a younger sister, Kasumi thought to herself.
Jor-El looked surprised, then pleased. "That's very good, Akane. I forgot to mention that I know your names since I also listen to what's said here. At any rate, after we see if we can help your mother, I hope you'll come visit more often. Ranma's a very bright boy, but he should have friends his own age, and girls as bright as you three would be about perfect."
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(Posted Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:02)
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