Free The Last Days of Krypton by Kevin J. Anderson Page A

years, he had quietly made the Commission for Technology Acceptance one of the most powerful and important entities in all of Kandor. The Council didn’t even realize what they had allowed to grow right under their noses. Now, looking at all the wondrous devices he had collected, Zod felt quite satisfied.
    Before long, Nam-Ek returned, practically hauling a wide-eyed servant into the hidden chamber. Though his shoulders were bowed, the servant looked in amazement at the exotic technological artifacts before noticing Zod. “Oh, Commissioner! How may I help you?”
    “What is your name?”
    “Hopk-Ins, sir.” Zod had never even heard of his family…one of the lower classes, certainly. The man continued to gawk. “I’ve worked here for fifteen years and never suspected—”
    “Of course you never suspected.” Zod turned to Nam-Ek. “Throw him into the Phantom Zone. I want to observe what happens.”
    Nam-Ek grabbed the scrawny man by the back of the collar and hoisted him into the air. Hopk-Ins began kicking and squirming. “What are you doing?”
    The mute threw the much smaller man like a rag doll into the middle of the silver rings. Hopk-Ins wailed—then abruptly vanished.
    After being sucked into the void, the servant looked as if he had been squashed between two thin panes of crystal. He was flattened but still alive, and frantically trying to get back out. The silence was absolute.
    Zod clapped his hands together. “Even better than I had hoped! Most intriguing.” He could think of several ways to use this device.
    The hapless Hopk-Ins was lost forever inside the Phantom Zone, unless someone reversed the polarity in the control array, as Jor-El had explained. Zod had no intention of doing so. For him, the benefit of the Phantom Zone would be to get rid of inconvenient people; he didn’t need to worry about how they could be brought back. It was much cleaner than murder.
    Nam-Ek was amazed, and a broad grin spread across his face. Zod again felt a paternal warmth in his chest. From the moment he’d taken Nam-Ek under his wing as a boy, they had trusted each other. “And now I have another job for you.”
    No one was supposed to know about this secret chamber, and he was annoyed that a simpleton such as Bur-Al had discovered its existence. What if the fourth-level assistant had left some sort of proof or testament for others to find? That worried Zod, and he did not intend to lose his toys.
    He handed Nam-Ek a map. “Years ago, I set up a bunker in the Redcliff Mountains. I want you to secretly move these treasures. There’s too great a chance they could be discovered here. Take as many days as you require, but do it yourself. I can rely on no one but you.”

CHAPTER 9
    The arena stables were Nam-Ek’s own place, and he enjoyed spending as much time there as he could. He had liked animals since he was a child. Commissioner Zod often gave him expensive and exotic pets that no one else in Kandor owned, but Nam-Ek didn’t really care how rare they were or how special their breeding might be. He just liked the animals. Any animals.
    At least once a year, the Commissioner would set aside a day on which he took Nam-Ek to the extravagant zoo in Kandor so that he could see the incredible creatures. The big man wished he could share that excitement with his beloved mentor. Zod simply didn’t see the same wonder, but even so he did this for Nam-Ek, and the mute couldn’t imagine a greater gift.
    Now in the dim shadows of the stables, he hunkered down in the dry, sweet-smelling hay. Now that the black hrakkas were gone, four heavyset, slow-moving gurns had become his pets. Though gurns were as common as dirt, Nam-Ek had a special fondness for them. The stocky creatures were covered with matted gray fur that gave off a pungent musk; their stubby horns were little more than knobs. Others considered the herd creatures to be stupid, saw them as nothing more than walking meat, but Nam-Ek saw them as