Works By Australian Authors
Five Faces Of Kal
by Rodney Bartlett
(An adaptation from the story of Kal-el / Clark Kent /
Superman as told in comic books, on televisions and in
movies. This being from the planet Krypton - whose natural
parents were Jor-el and Lara, but who was later adopted on
Earth by Jonathan and Martha Kent - went on, when he grew to
adulthood, to become a reporter on the 'Daily Planet'
newspaper in the city of Metropolis. In this adaptation,
Superman's exploits are blended with the feats of ancient
Greece's legendary hero Hercules, and with an enlightening
young lady of the future named Essjy.)
Faster than a speeding bullet . . . more powerful than a
locomotive . . . able to leap tall buildings at a single
bound . . . Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird . . . it's a
plane . . . it's Superman! Yes, it's Superman - strange
visitor from another planet who came to Earth with powers
and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. Superman . . .
who can change the course of mighty rivers; bend steel in
his bare hands; and who, disguised as Clark Kent,
mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper,
fights a never-ending battle for truth, justice, and the
superhero way.
Where did he come from? The planet Ufora, in a distant
galaxy. When Ufora's imminent explosion was predicted by its
greatest scientist Jor-el; Jor and his wife Lara decided to
bundle their baby son Kal into a spaceship whose coordinates
had been set for earth. Unfortunately, Jor-el and Lara
couldn't save their own lives, since they had made up their
minds to stay behind and warn the population that their
world was about to end.
That plan turned out to be a total waste, for the Uforanauts
came to be divided over whether the two were mentally
unstable or simply naive and arrogant (in the end, it must
be said that it was naivety to believe they could open the
eyes of their planet's inhabitants to the fact that
unbelievable change was just around the corner).
Anyway, when baby Kal-el's spacecraft (called a UFO) landed
in a remote region on earth, it and its tiny occupant were
discovered by a middle-aged couple who happened to be
driving nearby Jonathan and Martha Kent. They had always
longed for a child, but had never been blessed with one -so,
rightly or wrongly, they decided (after giving the matter a
lot of thought) to take Kal back to their farm, say he was
adopted, and lavish on him the tenderness stored up in their
hearts over the years.
Time flew with no indication that Kal - who was renamed
Clark possessed any extraordinary abilities. Now a young man
in his early twenties; Clark had left his adopted parents'
farm, moved to the city, and accepted a job as reporter with
Metropolis' DAILY PLANET.
From Clark's point of view, easily the best thing about his
work was regularly perusing the paper's scientific columns
and having access to all the background material of the
science reporters. This triggered an insatiable desire for
accumulating knowledge. In no time at all, the PLANET's
features on science weren't enough to satisfy him; and he
graduated to buying specialised books and magazines.
Calling on all his study, Clark developed a theory stating
how all space and time was composed of infinitesimally small
pulses of energy. If a person knew how to utilise these
pulsations, it would be possible to invoke a source of
energy never tapped before. Directing this energy in a
controlled fashion would allow one to perform otherwise
impossible wonders - feats that peoples of ancient times
could only describe as 'magic' or as 'miracles'.
Clark studied and studied more and more - he practised and
practised all the conceivable methods of utilising what he
termed 'cosmic energy pulses'. The day came when he could
bend steel with his bare hands, leap tall buildings in a
single bound, and fly (yes, fly) faster than a speeding
bullet.
For a while, Clark (Kal-el) Kent contented himself by
fighting for justice in the 20th century. As 'Superman', he
put his powers to good use by detecting fires with his X-ray
vision and extinguishing them with Super-breath;
apprehending criminals, whose weapons never pierced his
invulnerable skin; flying into treetops to rescue kittens
who climbed up easily enough but couldn't remember the way
down; and so on . . .
Then a strange thought lodged in his brain. All time is
composed of infinitesimal energy pulses, but so is a video
game. To be precise, video games are made up of the ones and
zeros (the 'binary digits' or 'bits') dictated by computer
programming. In turn, these bits are determined by, say,
high and low voltages ie by pulses of electrical energy.
On a video screen, objects and events appear isolated, but
everything is actually connected by the bits. In space-time,
things also seem isolated from all other objects/events, but
should be interconnected to form a unity by 'bits of
space-time'.
Noting how every period is connected to every other, Kal-el
realised how little he was actually achieving by fighting
for truth and justice only in the present. To really do his
bit for the superhero way, he must continue his endeavours
in a wide variety of eras.
First, he journeyed some 24 centuries into the past to
ancient Greece. 'There'll be plenty to do here', Kal mused.
'In this century, Greeks are usually at war, either with
their countrymen from a neighbouring city-state or with the
Persians. While I'm here, I can have a chat to Democritus
and his teacher Leucippus.'
Kal's superhuman exploits on the Grecian plains quickly
earned him a place in history as the hero Heracles
(Hercules). Though he always refused to harm the so-called
enemy. Heracles never missed an opportunity to place his
invincible body between the projectiles of catapults and
soldiers who were threatened with injury or death from those
projectiles. It might be argued that Hercules acted
partially on these occasions. for he always defended a
particular side - however, this side was always the one to
which history accorded victory.
When he discoursed with Democritus and Leucippus, Heracles
pointed out that in many years, philosophers would
misinterpret their concept of 'indivisible particles'.
Because the English word 'atom' comes from a Greek word
meaning 'not cuttable', the indivisible particles of
Leucippus and Democritus would later be identified with the
atomic theory of John Dalton. In reality, 'indivisible
particles' is the Greek way of describing 'bits of
space-time' and 'cosmic energy pulses'.
Coupled with the super powers displayed on the battlefield,
Heracles' insights into the future resulted in his being
elevated to the status of a god. Unfortunately, some of the
records of ancient Greece have suffered considerable
distortion in the last 2,000 years: consequently, 20th
century society ascribes the greek gods and heroes to legend
.
Kal-el was feeling pleased with himself. 'I've enjoyed great
success in the 1900s as Superman, and also 2400 years
earlier as Hercules. It must be time to balance the scales
and go to the 44th century A.D. I wonder what it's like
there . . .'
On arrival, Kal-el was greeted by a woman who looked and
acted how he imagined a female version of himself would.
Picking up on his sudden shyness, the young lady stepped
forward and addressed our time traveller.
'Hello, Kal. Welcome to 4390. I've been assigned to show you
around and explain anything you wish to know. Just call me
EssJy. Before you say anything - and I'm sure you have a lot
of questions - let me assure you that we've taken a special
interest in your life, including your recent adventures in
ancient Greece. You won't find any physical labours to do
here, I'm afraid - but there's more than enough mental
labour (ie learning) to keep you busy.
'By the way, learning is the real purpose of life in all the
places and times you've come from. People living in those
times get so caught up in the happenings in one particular
spot at one particular moment . . . They forget the rest of
the universe, as well as the past and the future . . .
Consequently, they lose all sense of perspective and can't
remember that their only purpose in being is to have new
experiences, get whatever joy and knowledge they can from
those experiences, and share their knowledge with whomever
they can.'
Relaxing, Kal-el's eyes plunged into the depths of his
guide's strangely familiar eyes: 'What did they say about me
in Greece immediately after "Hercules" disappeared, EssJy?'
'They think you died and went to join the immortal gods on
Mt. Olympus. Well, you aren't dead, and this isn't Olympus;
but we are immortal, Kal! This is a complex subject, but
I'll tell you all about it later.'
'And are you gods?'
'Personally. I don't like to think that way. Though it's
certainly true that, prior to the 1900s, every person who
encountered one of us thought: "It's one of the gods", "It's
one of God's angels" or "It's someone from another planet."
In coming here from that Mediterranean land of nearly 5000
years ago; you gave up the 12 labours of Hercules but I
guess you have journeyed to the realm of the so called
"gods".'
During the course of his tour, Kal-el discovered that his
guide was, in fact, himself . . . uh, herself . . . uh, it's
all a bit difficult to understand.
First, a cell was taken from Kal-el's body. Genetic
engineering was carried out on the sex-related traits of
chromosomes to give them feminine characteristics and the
cell was cloned. Second, a truly unique supercomputer
analysed the histology (microscopic anatomy), biochemistry
and interconnections of Kal-el's brain tissues. This
analysis was, in effect, a model (simulation) of his mind
which was transmitted to the cloned brain in the same way
that waves are beamed from a television station. In other
words, Kal's mind has been duplicated and now exists in his
original brain as well as in the cloned brain. (The latter
isn't actually a clone because a clone is identical to the
original.)
Oriented by this discovery into an unfamiliar mode of neural
connections, Kal's brain gave rise to this conviction: 'Her
name isn't Essjy; it's S.G. Does that stand for Spirit
Guide?' (In the decades around 1900, a medium conducting a
seance regularly called upon a spirit guide to lead her, or
occasionally him, into conversations with the supposed
dead.)