ALL NOVEL Chapter 51.2
Floating out of the gravity field, she held the hyper-drive over her head and flew towards a workstation, gently lying it down. A second later, a mechanical arm lifted from the floor, the hand uncurling into hundreds of sharp devices.
Grabbing a makeshift neural controller for the arm —a temporary measure until she could build a safer and more permanent controller— Kara put it over her head and started working, the arm moving with her every thought to carefully manipulate the drive without doing any damage.
For two hours, she studied the drive’s construction, her face frowning in concentration as she kept her microscopic vision active until it started to give her a headache.
Finally, she took off the neural controller and almost threw it at the wall, her hands squeezing into fists as she kept herself from just smashing the damn hyper-drive. One last time, she pulled the designs for her own rocket from the database and compared the two.
With a sigh, she pushed herself back and dropped everything, leaving the mess at the table and walking straight towards the bathroom, she needed some time to think.
Dissolving her outfit, she grabbed her phone as it almost dropped to the ground and put it beside the nano-cube on the counter before dropping down on the bath, the boiling water feeling nice on her skin thanks to the gravity generators helping increase the temperature.
Rao damn it, she had really hoped to be wrong for once.
It was clear, the hyper-drives worked in the same way, using the same principles and general design, but they were clearly different, and not only in a superficial way.
From what she remembered, both Jor-El and her father had used her own hyper-drive designs, correcting her mistakes, testing a prototype with Krypto and, finally, building two new ones for her and Kal-El.
Logically, the final designs should have been the same, incorporating the modifications made after Krypto’s launch in both devices. Even if Jor-El and her father disagreed with something and worked independently, the base should have been the same.
And yet, on Kal’s drive, there were no signs of her own work, her own adaptations. From the code to the hardware, it was as if her uncle had worked on the thing alone, independently from the very beginning.
It was not absolute certainty, but the words she had heard before fighting that eldritch being kept repeating in her mind and, now that she looked at things, they made far more sense:
“You have come very far, wanderer. Farther than you even expect, I’d guess.” The Phantom Stranger had said when they first met. Kara hadn’t been able to find out much about the man, but everything she knew indicated he was, at the very least, on the level of Doctor Fate, probably with similar, or better, senses and understanding of reality.
And then there were the Lord of Order’s own words, his insistence that she did not belong. Kara had thought it meant her soul had come from a different universe, but she had always been Kara, she didn’t take over her body or dislodge her original soul.
Perhaps she had always been displaced, her existence never belonging to this dimension in the first place. Looking down at her recently grown chest, she snorted. Yeah, perhaps she had always been Powergirl, not Supergirl.
No, fuck that, she was here first… well, at least on Earth. She was Supergirl and the other one could deal with finding a new name.
Still, if that was true, did it actually change anything?
Soaking her head under the water, Kara released a slow breath, watching the bubbles join the ones on the surface and trying to gather her thoughts. Her first instinct was to say yes but, really, she didn’t feel like it did.
Closing her eyes, she tried to enter meditation as Kal had taught her to better consider things. In reality, the discovery changed nothing in her relationship with Kori; her girlfriend would still be there for her no matter where she came from.
Her relationship with Kal and Kon were far more complicated, but the interactions she had were still there. It would be really hypocritical of her to say everything she did to Kon and change her feelings about him just because of this.
For a second, she considered just dropping this line of questioning and never mentioning it again, but then she shook her head and opened her eyes. No, she’d have a conversation with them, give them all the information she had about this and decide together.
Now she just had to gather the willpower to start talking again. By Rao, she hated talking about personal things. Why couldn’t she have just found Brainiac was responsible for Krypton’s destruction or something like that? An enemy she could punch, or discharge the rest of Vortigar’s heart at, was so much easier to deal with.
And speaking of more concrete things to deal with, if she didn’t belong to this dimension, then where was the Kara Zor-El that did and, more importantly, what happened to her own dimension? Did Kal-El even survive there?
Pushing her head out of the water, she took a new breath and felt herself relaxing, at least a little bit; she always did better when she had a concrete problem to solve.
“Jor-El, store all the data into an independent folder and remind me to talk about it with Kal at least once a day,” Kara said as she pushed her upper body into a sitting position. “Also, gather all the Fortress knows about dimensional travel, I’ll need it for my next project.”
Appearing at her side, the Fortress AI bowed towards her. “As you wish, do you also wish me to inform Master Kal-El you desire to talk with him?”
For a moment, Kara stopped, her mind considering just… leaving the talk to the Fortress, but then she shook her head. “No, I’ll speak with him myself, thanks.”
With another bow, the hologram faded away, leaving Kara alone in the empty bathroom once more. Unable to help herself, she smashed a hand on the wall, breaking through the crystal and spreading cracks for several meters.
From inside the walls, one of the gravity generators gave a small whine, the water immediately starting to lose pressure and, slowly, heat.
For a few seconds, Kara just sat there, considering her next move. Around her hand, the crystal started fixing itself, the nano-machines she had spread through the Fortress filling the cracks and fusing with the surface at a visible rate.
Perhaps she really should take that vacation with Kori, to drop all of her problems for a few days and enjoy a trip just the two of them. From the counter, her phone started vibrating.
Pushing herself out of the water, she stepped away from the bath and glared at the phone, she just bet it was some other problem she’d have to deal with.
Kara took a couple of seconds to dry herself, the world slowing down as she grabbed the towel and wrapped it around her hair before checking the caller. It was Dubbilex.
“Good evening, Miss Zor-El.”
“Evening, Dubbilex, is something wrong at the factory?” Kara asked. “You don’t usually call me at this hour; did Kon’s project turn out fine?”
“Indeed, brother’s modifications were really appreciated by the human staff,” Dubbilex said. “No, there is nothing wrong, quite the contrary, I believe I have two announcements you’d appreciate hearing now instead of in the morning.”
Tapping the nano-cube with a finger, she caused it to cover her in a gray cloud and reform into a simple shirt and jeans. Stepping out of the bathroom, Kara considered things.
On one hand, she was done for the day but, on the other, she did need some good news and Dubbilex really didn’t call her for just anything. “Alright, I’m listening.”
“First, it seems Dr. Roquette has finally accepted your offer of employment. As you wished to deal with her interview personally, I have scheduled an appointment next Monday.”
“That’s great, the woman is a genius, so it IS nice to know, but nothing I couldn’t read in the morning.”
“Indeed, more importantly, the last of the genomorphs just went through gene treatment. After the procedure, Dr. Spencer informed me she’s ready to work on Match, possibly tomorrow if you’re free.”
Well, THAT was something she wanted to hear immediately.
