"On the Trail of the Future Man: A Tale of the Hundred Years' War"

From: Mikel Midnight (with a touch here and there of Neelnat's SuperThor.)

Rakdur Zarrko read the news article again, grinding his teeth. His twin brother Jondur had just been elected Secretary of Science by the ruling Government Council at their headquarters in New Gotham City, for his work with an experimental time machine. Zarrko swore to himself that he was not going to let his sibling get all the attention again. 2099 was going to be different, it was going to be the year he was going to make a name for himself.

He returned to his lab. In their separate chambers lay the two substances he had been studying for years. A small stone, glowing green: Nornonite, a fragment of the lost planet Kryptgard. A small grey chip of metal: the remains of the hammer of the 20th century super-hero Thor-El. From behind his camera-eye, he manipulated the fragments into the field of a samarium-cobalt magnet to fuse the pair together.

Zarrko shielded his eyes from the resulting glare, visible even through the optic lenses. When the light subsided, he watched, amazed, at the recorders. The energy levels generated by the fusion were almost off the scale. He sighed. The new substance had fantastic powers which, accumulated in sufficient quantities, would enable him to establish himself as dictator of the entire planet Earth. If only he could obtain a greater quantity! If only ...

He looked at the newsreader again. And this time, he smiled.

It was simplicity's sake to walk into his brother's laboratory, convincing the guards that he was his twin. Despite his disgust, he had to admit that he was impressed with the usefulness of the portable time-travel device, and easily incorporated it into a planet-suit. He had done his research into the 20th century legends. Thor-El had been interviewed extensively over the course of his career by two reporters, Clark Blake and Bettey Lane. Zarrko set the spatial index for the astronomical location of the planet Kryptgard, and the chronal index for 552 AD.

He arrived in the planetary orbit, and consulted his historical map. There ... the capital, nation-state of Asgard. He adjusted the controls on his planet-suit and slowly entered the atmosphere. He had to be careful; the suit was solar-powered, and the red sun of this system wasn't as efficient an energy source as Earth's own yellow sun. He landed quietly in an unpopulated area, and shed the suit to begin the long trek towards Asgard. His face lit with awe as he approached the gleaming, mile-high towers of the city, an immense red tower in the center, dwarfing them all. As he passed through the city gates, he began to contemplate the next step in his mission, the residence of the planet's leading scientist-king, Odin-El.

Suddenly, he found himself surrounded by flame. Zarrko screamed in dismay. A voice spoke to him from the fires. "An alien, eh? Didst thou think thine entrance into our planet's atmosphere would go unannounced? Reveal thyself to me, mortal". Terrified, Zarrko babbled out his mission,

"Ahh ... thou art from the future ... and Midgard." The flames disappeared, and Zarrko found himself confronted with a heavy-set bald man sporting a thin mustache and clad in green and yellow. "Well met, my name is Loki-Ur and it appears I am in thy debt."

Zarrko swallowed hard, "My debt?"

Loki-Ur nodded, "Thou hast brought me information, that Odin-El is not so foolish as we might have thought, and that our planet will explode, a fate I wish to escape. In return, thou art seeking a device of Odin-El's ... something only I can help you find."

Zarrko said, a bit shakily, "I agree with the exchange."

Loki-Ur said "Excellent," and grabbed Zarrko by his collar. Zarrko panicked as Loki-Ur leapt an eighth of a mile into the air, dragging him along. As they entered farther into the city, they passed other Kryptgardians traveling similarly under their own power. Gods, Zarrko thought, what sort of supertown have I entered into? How could I have thought I could accomplish anything here on my own?

Loki-Ur finally leapt onto an open porch. "Here, the laboratory of our enemy. Even as we speak he is facing the Supreme Council, practicing his pointless demagoguery, and his wife Freyja sleeps. We are quite safe."

The pair entered the lab which was more advanced than anything Zarrko had ever imagined. They soon located the hammer, and Loki-Ur hefted it easily, passing it to Zarrko, whose shoulders ached under the weight. "It appears Odin-El is still in the processing of fashioning this device, but it will have to do. So, my friend, all that is left is for me to transfer thee back to thy travel equipment, no? And then to begin my own plans for constructing a craft which will allow me to escape to Midgard, myself."

Zarrko barely had time to voice his agreement, when Loki-Ur grabbed him by the collar again. They leapt through the city and beyond, and Loki-Ur deposited the human next to his planet-suit. Zarrko slipped into it, eyeing the Kryptgardian warily. "Where to next, my friend?" asked the latter.

Zarrko set his controls. "Back to the Earth of my own time, and then to the past. To manufacture the quantities of the isotope that I need, I require the use of a large amount of cobalt, the supplies of which have been nearly exhausted by my own time. But the late 20th century saw the greatest quantity of refined cobalt available."

Loki-Ur watched Rakdur Zarrko disappear into his own time and place. Perhaps I will see thee there, he thought, and returned to his lair to begin his own travel plans.

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Clark Blake sat at his desk at the Planetary Bugle in Metropolis, New York, typing up the details of Thor-El's recent capture of a pair of bank robbers. He smiled to himself, his fingers churning out the prose at 100 wpm ... much slower than his alter-ego would manage. With crime down 59% due to his presence, an altercation like this wasn't even front-page news any more. Blake the reporter was unhappy about the lower frequency of scoops he was able to achieve, though he did enjoy the medical beat which allowed him to use some of the knowledge he had acquired in med school. He missed that life, and missed being able to help people without transforming to his alter ego ... and it was such a fine thing for a farmer's son to distinguish himself that way. But he knew he could save more lives as Thor-El, and a doctor's schedule didn't allow him the flexibility he needed.

J. Jonah White burst into the office. The tall white-haired man with a cigar always in his mouth, was the owner of the Planetary Bugle but liked to exert editorial control, which pleased the paper's titular editor George Taylor not at all.

"Bettey Lane!" he called out. "Yes, Chief," said the attractive brunette who had dominated crime reportage on the Planetary Bugle for years.

"Lane, get out to the United States Army base on the edge of town, between here and Gotham City. Someone's broken into it, and stolen a cobalt bomb ... and he seems to be carrying the hammer of Thor-El!"

Bettey grabbed her coat, "I'm on it!" Clark stood up, leaning heavily on the cane he used as part of his disguise. "Chief, let me come with her. You remember I did the first interview in Metropolis with Thor-El, I feel I have a vested interest in this story. Besides, it might be dangerous."

The woman smiled at him, "I'm sure I can handle myself." She removed her small pistol from its lockbox in her desk and placed it in her purse. "I've been covering these stories when you were still wet behind the ears, farmboy," she said affectionately.

Clark sighed as he watched her leave; it was probably just as well, he could get there faster under his own power. "Chief, I think I'll take advantage of not having to work full time today." White replied, "Okay Clark but remember ... this is Lane's story. No trying to scoop her."

"I wouldn't dream of not playing fair with Bettey," Clark quipped, and limped out to the elevator ... his limp turning into a run when he was out of view. "I'll just change in this abandoned alley," he thought. In the dark alley Clark knelt down with his cane, striking it on the ground. As he stood straight up a small bolt of lightning hit him and he became Thor-El, and soared skywards towards his destination.

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He was stunned by the wreckage surrounding the base. Slowly, he descended, looking for the man who appeared to be leading the attack force.

"Captain Jack Selegue," the man said, extending his hand. "I hope you're here to clean up this mess."

Thor-El took the man's hand and nodded. "What was the cause of all this, Captain Selegue? I understand there was some sort of villain using a hammer like mine?"

Captain Selegue nodded. "He was capable of weather control ... he created these green tornadoes and lightning storms which devastated my attack force. Right now we've got him under guard, he's holed up in the storage facility where we have several cobalt bombs."

Thor-El pondered. He had considered the possibility it might be some rogue clone of his, created by Two Face's Double Helix - DNA Project, but what explained the green energy? He had never come across its like before.

He entered the facility. Zarrko was directing what appeared to be a large humanoid robot which was stacking cobalt bombs into the corner of the room.

"Well, my friend, would you care to explain your actions?"

Zarrko peered at Thor-El. "I was almost hoping you'd show." He held up a hammer which resembled Thor-El's almost exactly, save for its strange, green aura. "I am Zarrko the Future Man, and I have a surprise for you." He started to twirl the hammer in his hand, generating a miniature green whirlwind headed directly towards his opponent.

Thor-El used his own hammer to block it, but as the green energy came close, he felt his super-strength start to fade. "By Rao," he cried out, instinctively calling on the mythological sun god said to be the father of all Kryptgardians, "What is happening?"

Zarrko laughed, "It's called Nornonite, the one substance which can bring low a Kryptgardian. I have fused it with your own hammer, stolen from your creator Odin-El before Kryptgard even exploded, with the use of my own portable time machine."

"That's impossible," Thor-El cried out, desperately using his heat vision to weaken part of the building's support beams, causing it to crash down on Zarrko. He soared upwards, trying to place distance between himself and the deadly hammer.

Zarrko ran out of the building to see Thor-El hovering above him. "This hammer may not turn me into a Kryptgardian, but by fusing it with Nornonite I can generate more than enough fantastic power to bring you down!"

The Army corpsmen retreated as the base became filled with warring electrical storms, black and white lightning from the skies, and a terrible green from the ground. Captain Selegue cursed to himself from afar, as he saw the green winning.

Zarrko laughed as Thor-El crashed to the ground. "Now," he raised the hammer above his head, "time's up." He brought it down in a crushing blow, and it landed twelve inches to the right of Thor-El's head. The future man blinked, confused, and raised the hammer again. It came down on the left side. "What's happening?"

A dark figure with a large 'X' over his torso swung down on a rope. "I'm happening. My name is Bat-X, and I'm afraid I can't let you kill that man."

Zarrko raged, attempting to resist Bat-X's telepathic attack. In desperation he shouted out a command, "Robot, set off the cobalt bombs!"

Bat-X blasted Zarrko with an intensified telepathic attack in an attempt to halt the command, but it was too late. Zarrko fell to the ground as his robot began manipulating the controls of one of the devices. Bat-X leapt over to the robot in an attempt to disable it. He succeeded, but was too slow to interrupt the setting of the first detonator. He cursed to himself silently, and opened up a belt-radio. "Captain Selegue, prepare to emergency evacuate the area!"

"I'm not sure that'll be necessary," said a voice behind him. Thor-El flew over and grabbed the cobalt bomb from the hands of the unmoving robot, and sped into the air. From a distance, Bat-X watched as Thor-El threw the bomb into the air then used his hammer to create a vortex around it. When the bomb exploded, the energy was channeled harmlessly into space. Thor-El returned, alighting next to the new ally and the fallen foe.

"We make a pretty good team," said Bat-X.

"You think so?" said Thor-El.

Zarrko stirred. "What ... who are you two? Who am I?"

Bat-X knelt down and peered into Zarrko's eyes. "Amnesia. It appears I did some slight damage attempting to cut off his attack. Wasted effort, and now he's suffered from it."

Thor-El said, "You saved my life ... that wasn't wasted." He picked up the hammer, now with its Nornonite energy spent the apparent twin to his own.

Bat-X examined the artifact. "I scanned his mind. It's fantastic, the same hammer you're holding but from a different temporal era. What are you going to do with it?"

Captain Jack Selegue approached the pair, "The only thing you can do." His features started to shift and change. "Never fear, Captain Selegue is quite safe. You may call me ... the Space Phantom Stranger."

Thor-El nodded, "I've heard of you."

The Stranger said, "Those I represent, The Quintessence of Realities, have become concerned over the recent disruptions of the time stream." He took Zarrko by the hand and gently lifted him up. "This one is no longer any threat. I shall return him to the authorities of his own century, who will find some harmless occupation for him."

Thor-El said, "Thank you. But there is still the question of the second hammer."

The Stranger looked skywards, then back to Thor-El. "You have to restore the timeline. You must travel back to the Kryptgard of the past, meet your creator, Odin-El, and return his stolen property."

To be continued

Thor-El= Superman + Thor

Clark Blake= Clark Kent + Don Blake

Rakdur Zarrko the Future Man= Rak Durr the Future Man + Artur Zarrko the Tomorrow Man

Loki-Ur= Loki + Jax-Ur

Bettey Lane= Lois Lane + Betty Brant

Planetary Bugle= Daily Planet + Daily Bugle

Odin-El= Jor-El + Odin

J. Jonah White= Perry White + J. Jonah Jameson

Bat-X= Batman + Professor X

Space Phantom Stranger= Phantom Stranger + Space Phantom

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"Return to Kryptgard"

From: Mikel Midnight

Thor-El looked upwards at the red sun of Kryptgard. Behind him, the Space Phantom Stranger had long departed, leaving him to his thoughts. Around him lay the vast city of Asgard. His head felt like it was stuffed with cotton. Odin-El had told him that his powers were due to Earth's yellow sun; he could feel that his body still possessed more might than a normal human's, but his strength was dulled and his senses were nearly Earth-normal. He had tried earlier to fly, and found that too was denied him. Fortunately, he seemed able to understand the language of the planet's inhabitants.

He spent hours wandering aimlessly. After some experimentation, he found that he could leap as high as the other Kryptgardians, a power he was glad remained to him. As he continued his explorations, he nearly collided with a short and fat person with a long white beard dressed in a green robe and gold metal helmet. Thor-El gasped, recognising his creator, "Odin-El!"

The scientist stared at him. "Dost thou know me, clumsy one?"

Thor-El stumbled over his words. "My, ah, name is Thor-El. I am affiliated with the Kryptgard Security Force. It appears we have recovered some stolen property of yours."

Thor-El held out the duplicate hammer. Odin-El's eyes lit up, "Where didst thou find my device?"

Thor-El improvised, "It had been stolen by a young rapscallion, Rak-Dur. It was no great trouble to track it down, once we discovered the theft. I was on my way to thy domicile to return it, in fact."

Odin-El took the hammer from him happily. "I am in thy debt. Please, join me in my home, Hlithskjalf. I know my wife Freyja would be happy to meet you. She was most upset over the loss of this, ah, heirloom. A duplicate of an ancient weapon from Asgard's early days of war and strife."

Thor-El nodded emphatically, "I would be delighted! Please, lead on."

Odin-El leapt up onto his porch, Thor-El following behind him. As they arrived, two small black spheres hovered into view. <> Odin-El turned to Thor-El, "My house robots, Hugin and Munin." He said to the pair, "Yes, a flagon of mead for us both. Freyja is entertaining in the sitting-room? I shall see her there."

<> the spheres said mechanically, and hovered off. Thor-El followed Odin-El through the domicile, his eyes widening at the incredible technology on display there. All that was forgotten however, as he entered the sitting room.

Odin-El smiled, standing beside an attractive and slender older woman with greying hair and a conservative gown, "My wife, Freyja." Freyja smiled at him, "Thou art most welcome in Hlithskjalf, sir." "And of course," Odin-El continued, "you must know Sif Lerrol, the most famous emotion-movie actress of our time."

Standing before him was the most hauntingly beautiful woman Thor-El had ever imagined. She was tall and voluptuous, clad in a white tunic and tights with violet trim which matched her boots. Her hair flowed down her back in long golden waves.

Thor-El swallowed hard, fighting for words. "Um ... no ... I haven't had the pleasure."

Sif Lerrol smiled at him and his heart skipped a beat. "I am quite delighted, sir. What is thy name?"

"Thor-El, ma'am. I am sorry I haven't seen any of thy movies."

"Well!" Sif Lerrol said in mock-offense, then chuckled softly, "That's actually quite refreshing, and makes a change from the usual flattery one gets."

Odin-El said, watching the two of them, "Freyja, Sif, this young man helped me recover a valuable piece of property which had been stolen. He's with the Security Forces. His name is Thor-El ... I believe he may be a distant cousin"

Sif Lerrol ohhed, but Thor-El quickly demurred, "I am certainly not an agent ... I just help them out occasionally."

Odin-El stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Perhaps I can repay you with something more material then ... I am actually in need of an assistant for my lab. But perhaps we can discuss this later." Hugin and Munin appeared, each holding a pair of flagons apparently suspended in anti-gravity force-fields. "Freyja, come, there is something in the laboratory I wish to show you."

Freyja winked at her husband, taking a flagon and handing one to him as they departed, leaving Thor-El and Sif Lerrol alone. The remaining house robot served them each, then hovered off somewhere.

The two of them talked, long into the night. Thor-El hardly noticed the hours as they sped by. It amazed him that he would have to travel through hundreds of years and untold billions of worlds to somehow find such a woman. As their lips touched goodbye, their hearts thrilled with a passion compared to which the fiery forces within Kryptgard's unstable uranium core might as well have been frigid glaciers.

As she departed, Thor-El made his decision. The timeline had been healed by his returning the duplicate hammer to Odin-El. His job was done. "Bettey Lane loved me because I was Thor-El, the great superhero," he thought. "But Sif loves me as an equal. On Kryptgard I'm perfectly ordinary." If she would have him ... he would reconcile himself to staying here, spending his remaining days on the doomed planet with the woman he loves, as they awaited the oncoming destruction together.

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He spent the next several weeks with Odin-El, studying the fantastic science of Kryptgard and learning its history through its great historical epic the Kryptgardedda, much of which detailed the influential ancestors of his creator; Ymir-El, Bor-El, Vili-El and Ve-El among others.

He watched as Odin-El made the final adjustments to the hammer which would one day be his, two centuries in the future. Fortunately, the very environment of Kryptgard seemed to function almost like the hammer itself, so he was able to retain his Thor-El form without constant physical contact with his own version of the hammer.

Odin-El and Freyja were glad to hear that their guest believed in Odin-El's theories, as well. Together the formed a plan: as Odin-El continued to petition the Science Council, they would coordinate with sympathetic souls to construct a massive 'space-ark' which could convey a million inhabitants of the planet into space. For all its advanced technology and sophisticated astronomy, space travel on Kryptgard was still in its infancy, but Thor-El knew enough of the basics of Earth science so that, combined with Kryptgardian atomics, such a project seemed feasible. He looked forward to a sweet future with Sif Lerrol. The great city of Kandorheim was chosen. The future looked bright.

He stood in the control room booth, his arm around Sif Lerrol, stroking her long gold hair. "My lady," he whispered to her. She smiled at him. "Yes, my love?"

Thor-El swallowed hard, feeling more nervous than any time since he met her. "I've been working with Odin-El for quite some time now. I am currently constructing a home of my own, Bilskinir. Once it's completed, would ... wouldst thou walk with me to the Palace of Marriage? I know the money I make is nothing compared to thee as an emotion-movie actress, but ... "

She put her finger on his lips, "Hush," she said, then wrapped her arms around him tightly, kissing him. "Yes, of course I will!" The science staff in the room cheered.

Thor-El grinned, "And look ... Odin-El is arriving right now, see? There's his eight-engine airship, Sleipner. Let's go tell him the good news." The happiness we will share as husband and wife, Thor-El told himself, will more than compensate for whatever happens later.

Arm-in-arm, they walked to meet the elder scientist, but their joy was dimmed when they saw his expression. "Sir, why art thou so somber on this grand day?" Sif Lerrol asked.

Odin-El looked at the pair. "I have been monitoring the space surrounding Kryptgard, making maps to determine the best trajectory for our space ark. We are being approached by a vast craft and ... it does not bode well."

Thor-El tensed. His time here had been free from battle. And now, the happiest day of his life must be marred by an alien invasion? "Dost thou recognise it?"

Odin-El hesitated. "Yes. It is the city-eater. It is Galactiac."

They looked up, to see the craft descending from the skies, blotting out all sunlight. Thor-El shouted, "No! I won't allow this!" Sif Lerrol reached for him, but he bolted out the door.

Thor-El leapt into the twin-engine chariot he had been using, and activated a device he had hoped would never be needed; he switched a button which transformed it into a 'super car,' the megingjardir energy belt surrounding the chariot charged it with yellow sun radiation, restoring his full power so long as he was within it.

Odin-El and Sif Lerrol dove into the control room to watch, helpless, as Thor-El attacked Galactiac's equipment as it continued to break down the city of Kandorheim and its inhabitants, recording every detail down to the molecular level even as it converted them to energy with which feed Galactiac. The immense robotic figure finally took notice of him, and with a blast of energy sent him flying off into space.

Thor-El cursed, his craft not designed for off-planet flight. If he could somehow work the controls to coordinate a re-entry ... his thoughts were interrupted by a hand on his shoulder.

The Space Phantom Stranger said, "Congratulations, Thor-El. You have done well."

Thor-El cursed him, "I haven't done anything! I must get back there! I must save my wife!"

The Stranger shook his head sadly, "No. Your role is not yet complete in your own time. If it comforts you, Sif Lerrol is far enough away from the destruction of the city that she will survive it. At this point in time, Galactiac's hunger is not so great, and he devours mere cities rather than planets. But her time is in the past ... and your time is in the future."

Thor-El screamed in despair as the pair of them hurtled forward through the time-stream.

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Later, after Odin-El and Freyja comforted the sobbing Sif Lorrel, the great scientist took his wife away privately.

"He was the greatest of us," Odin-El said. "I have made my decision. I will use his genetic template to build into the hammer Mjolnir, which I shall send to Midgard. Whoever finds it, if he worthy of holding the device, shall be endowed with great power ... and the very visage of Thor-El. Though Kryptgard may die, Thor-El shall live on."

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