15648/Thinking with Kryptonian Portals

Thinking with Kryptonian Portals
Date of Scene:	18 August 2023
Location:	JLA Rotunda - Atlantic Starport
Synopsis:	Preparations for the settlement of New Krypton are well underway. Caitlin and Monet are the first humans to set foot on the planet.
Cast of Characters:	Alura In-Ze, Monet St. Croix, Caitlin Fairchild, Conner Kent

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Alura In-Ze has posed:
There's secret projects and then there's _secret_ projects. This side room off the JA Rotunda in the Atlantic Starport is where Alura has brought Caitlin and Monet. It's an unassuming meeting room with a strange decoration on the wall. "What I'm about to show you is beyond top secret."

She smiles to the pair of them and then swipes her hand over her gauntlet to bring up its holographic interface. With a twisting motion like unlocking a door, she gestures in to the hologram.

The strange art upon the wall stays fixed as the wall itself around the art pulls back revealing a technological circle of crystal and metals bound together to create a portal gateway. "The JLA have kindly given us one of their teleporters and I have been modifying it into an interstellar portal with one destination: New Krypton."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix goes to look about, taking a moment to sweep in the area of the Starport. She hasn't had a chance to be on the Justice League's side of it. She would look out the portals to take in the sea outside. Then turn back over to Alura, listening attentively. At the point of 'beyond top secret' she looks very, very interested before her face goes to relax some. She's never particularly expressive when it comes to body language.

As the door goes to.. Phase open she would watch, fascinated. "Is this a Zeta beam or.." Going quiet as Alura moves to show the doorway to New Krypton.. For once, all she can do is be quiet, amazement over on her face.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin whistles low, looking impressed. Apparently it's an office day; she's in a black pencil skirt and a plain white blouse, managing to make both look quite modest. And her hair's been teased out and gently curled to give it volume rather than whipped back in a hasty ponytail.

"That's pretty cool," the redhead admits. She walks around it carefully, making note of how it's integrated into the building structure and the unique design elements thereof.

"I didn't know Krypton had portal technology," she admits to Alura. "I'm guessing that's where the crystal lattice comes into play? But this looks different than Nadia's design," she adds, looking it over. "I mean I see some other elements but nothing like the Pym Portal."

Her fingers twitch eagerly as if she's just waiting for a moment to pry a cover off and look inside the mechanism.

Alura In-Ze has posed:
"Am I remembering correctly that Hank Pym being Nadia's father built a portal that goes to alternate realities? No, this one just goes to New Krypton. Or, where New Krypton will be one day any way. I've locked it down so it can't be used for other purposes."

"Planetary security is extremely important. In both directions. I've got the only key," Alura states and then nods to Monet. "That's correct. And you're also right Caitlin. Krypton had no use for interstellar portals but the principles seemed quite simple to me. The zeta beams aren't inherently stable or reliable but I've compensated for that using Kryptonian technology."

She motions to her holographic interface again and the device starts to whirrrr before it bursts in to life, a glittering surface appears in its center. "Come be the first humans to set foot on New Krypton. I think the sun is about to rise there if I remember correctly."

Alura doesn't have much in the way of regular Earth clothes. She is wearing her Superwoman clothes as per usual. She steps in to the portal and disappears.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would huh, "Is it for now in another planet or have you placed it within a pocket dimension for safety?" She knew, distantly, that such things could be done - but not whether they were feasible or safe. She would turn her attention over to Caitlin, listening to the queries that the far more intelligent girl made, then going to assess the portal for a few more moments.

"Fixed gateways to separate points in space.." Things she only seen from some of her fellow mutants - but of a far more limited nature. As Alura goes into the portal, Monet goes to after a moment take a step after her, murmuring to herself in French "Into the great beyond.." Before going out the other side, ready to see the sunrise.. Or if necessary take a hand up to her face to block the immediate glare.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin balks and looks around. "What-- the first?" she gets out. But Alura's taken off with her usual, effortless independence, leaving Caitlin floundering on the threshold as Monet walks past her and dives into the glowing field.

"I feel like we should have someone more official than just me here," she mutters, mostly to herself. "At least I'm wearing a nice shirt."

She steels herself, setting shoulders back and lifting her chin in a manner eerily reminiscent of Diana, and steps into the portal with confident steps. At least for the ginger scientist, it's not the first time she's taken a few steps into an interplanetary leap!

Conner Kent has posed:
Conner arrives late (as usual) and just in time to hear the 'come to New Kryton' as the women step through the Stargate. (Yes, another TV series Tim forced him to watch). So, he hurries up, as interstellar teleporters go, this one seems okay.

He always gets nauseous when it is magic. Not now! Yay supertech!

"Hey, ladies. Nice to see you," he greets, "so, now we don't even need spaceships!"

Alura In-Ze has posed:
Alura turns and grins when she hears Conner's voice. She gives his shoulder a gentle squeeze. "Glad you could make it."

What were the people of Earth expecting of an alien world? this one is barren. The ground is cracked and the night sky is filled with stars. Where-ever this place is, it could be found but then again may be Alura would simply tell if asked.

The sun begins to peek up over the horizon. There are mountains in the distance but no trees, no grass, no vegetation, no animal life at all. It is a desolate and lonely world. One that will soon be a new home for Krypton.

The rising sun spreads a beautiful array of colours over the ground as it strikes the crystalline structure before the portal. This is purely Kryptonian and recognisable to Conner and Monet. It's the core of the Sanctuary of Solitude from underneath the antarctic.

Alura spreads out her arms, the air is breathable and the temperature rapidly warms up under the yellow sun. "Welcome to New Krypton." She is quite pleased with herself. Beyond their immediate family very few know about this place or the work that's been going in to setting up a new world for the last Kryptonian civilisation.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would pause and survey the area, giving a smile over to Alura, "Thank you for giving us the honor of seeing your home." She goes to do this in her passable Kryptonian - her grasp of the language still basic, despite her efforts and a very gradual thing doing so. She would sweep about.. Then focus on the crystaline structure. Gazing down upon it, the eternal prism and reflection before looking about.

"Do you plan to terraform here? Or will you setup a biosphere?" The planet seems to be capable of holding life but it doesn't appear to be particularly welcome for long term habitation. Or will the crystlas just grow and take over everywhere?

She doesn't fly up - she wants to get an impression of her from the ground. And listen attentively over to Alura for how she's going to explain this.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin greets Conner with a nod and a smile when he hails her; she keeps relatively close to Alura, out of some subconscious anxiety over being on an alien world.

It's the glimmering ground that gets her attention, and she squats down carefully to give it a closer look. The redhead brushes some of the dirt away, and her eyes widen when she realizes what the substrate actually is.

"Alura-- did you force grow this entire planet from a crystal?" she inquires, in disbelief. "I knew sunstones could replicate fast, but--" she splutters, looking around. "Where did you get the raw materials? Is the planet solid or have you just formed the crust? Of course it's solid, there's gravity," she says, batting a palm to her forehead. "Unless it's some sort of Dyson sphere with a gravity well at the center," she postulates, and taps her chin with a narrow-eyed focus.

She'll likely keep going until someone interrupts her.

Conner Kent has posed:
Conner watches the sun go up, but it doesn't come with the usual energy rush. There is a little, but... "it is just a little planet in a corner of the galaxy, Cait. Yeah, and it has a yellow sun, barely, more like yellow-orange, and small compared with Sol. Still, it will help a lot since terraforming the planet is going to be an insane amount of work. Even making a few hundred square miles nice it is going to take a bit. But it has a breathable atmosphere and a big ocean that way," he points. "With some primitive life forms including oxygen-producing algae. Well, algae-ish things."

Alura In-Ze has posed:
Alura chuckles at all the enthusiastic questions blurting out of Caitlin's mouth. She is impressed with those questions and the ones from Monet though. Not that Conner hasn't had similar questions too. "As far as family projects go this is the biggest I think in El history."

"But no Caitlin. What you're seeing is substrate infrastructure. We're going to grow Kandor back to full size here and it's a whole city on a new planet. It'll need support that it was getting from the bottle. The Kandorians are busy modifying the city inside the bottle in preparation."

She motions with her hands, "This whole empty area is in the perfect temperate space for Kandor to settle. Assuming we can keep the fields alive there'll be plenty of food. Otherwise, algae-ish dinners for a long time."

"As for the power needed to terraform this world. What you see here is the core of the Sanctuary of Solitude. It was meant to be Kara's home away from home when she arrived on Earth but due to Kryptonite it got lost and malfunctioned. All the materials used in construction have come from underneath the antarctic where the Sanctuary was running haywire fore decades."

She taps the side of her nose. Waste not want not. "And in it is a compressed suncore with enough power to slowly transform this world. I've put together some preliminary plans but it'll be up to the council of New Krypton to decide their fate."

Her hands go to her hips in a rather iconic fashion, "So much to do. I envy them their new world. I'll be staying on Earth though. This is as alien a world and theirs as alien a society to me as Earth is. So I go where my family is. My family is on Earth."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would look over at Alura, going to evaluate what she was saying, "So, let me ensure that I've heard you correctly. . You're going to return Kandor to it's full size and resettle the city and it's infrastructure here, and.. Grow it into the planet and link it up with the crystal from the Sanctuary of Solitude? Which has enough power to do so efficiently without any need for heavy enhancement?" She could very well be getting significant bits of that wrong.
Sheo she goes to phrase out what she thinks is being elaborated on, rather awestruck. Then giving a look over to Caitlin to see if she's correct or not. While she would take a moment to slowly rise up and into the air, floating up several meters to get a better view. Krypton had this sort of technology? The sort of things that much of the galaxy would do anything to possess..

She goes to still her thoughts and does not ask further questions. One thing at a time, best to not pepper her with so many things where the others would be as well, no doubt. "Then you will hopefully soon be welcoming then to thier new world. And your and Kara's home away from home."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin goes quiet, eyes glimmering with the light of New Krypton as she processes everything Alura and Conner explain to her. It takes her a beat or two to recognize the silent question Monet poses, and Caitlin shrugs one shoulder a little awkwardly. "Sorry Monet, I understand the theory behind the sunstones but I know very little about the practical application of crystal growth. It's a science that goes way beyond Z-Point modules we've got on Earth. We still can't even make those super reliably," she admits.

Caitlin just stands next to Alura for a few beats, marvelling at the scenery. Finally she looks at Superwoman and smiles radiantly. "You did it, Alura," she compliments the Kryptonian, and gives her shoulder an encouraging squeeze. "You've brought Kryptonian culture back from the brink. This will be one of the most pivotal moments in Kryptonian history."

Conner Kent has posed:
"Well, remember the crystals that formed the Fortress of Solitude was... I guess it was something like a supercomputer/fabricator/power-generator almost like a Green Lantern ring," explains Conner, pointing to the device. "I think it takes planet-level resources to build one, and if the House of El had two, it was the work of many years, maybe whole generations. Kandor can't build one right now, it might be centuries before they can. Makes sense to let them have this one."

Alura In-Ze has posed:
"If we can make it work for Krypton then there's hope for all those other bottled cities. It'll take a long time and each one is unique, different, alien. But I have hope that with our recent break-throughs we can find like minded species out there willing to help bring these other civilisations back to life."

She wouldn't dare test these theories on a species she couldn't get consent from. That barrier to communication with the other bottles will be the biggest road block. Some of those species won't even understand the concepts of civilisation transplanting, terraforming, or the nature of the prison they're in.

She doesn't look particularly tired but the long list of things left to be done is certainly mounting. "Never in a million years would I have imagined this would be my defining scientific and engineering achievement. I primarily worked on manufactured energy ... uh ... there's no word in Earth languages yet for what I'm trying to say. One day there will be."

"It doesn't matter - but this? all this? it's so many different sciences all at once. Without these superpowers and Sol I wouldn't have been able to do it at all." She looks to Conner, "And without the help of family none of it would have happened."

She nods to Conner. "Until New Krypton can make new sun cores, they won't have recovered to the heights of Kryptons power. That might be a long journey though. The science isn't lost but the machines needed to do it are. Perhaps in a generation or two they'll be there. Until then, well, as far as we know those are the only two left in the universe."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Practical applications? They're so far along the line of theory they can't even fathom what's possible with it. Monet is in total awe and intimidated here. This is technology and knowledge beyond the likes of what she will ever grasp at. Science so far advanced that for all her understanding might as well be magic. An easily enough admission for the self-proclaimed perfect girl. SO much that she does not get, that she will not even try.

Instead she just accepts. It works. It is real. That is all that she has to know at the moment. So she can go along with it and appreciate it. "I believe that it is something that you will find is impressive by the standards of any lifetime's work and will earn you enough renkown.." She would look about over in awe. "And you can in time do this for.. All of them? Can you in time do this for other planets?" If they could make so many parts of the galaxy that are just barren live.. She would go to land, tentatively gazing before looking over at Fairchild - the other girl is the second smartest one in the room after all!

And M is getting a healthy dose as to why Fairchild is so intimidated by Alura..

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin listens attentively to Conner and nods gratefully as he lays some things out for her. She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. "Well, I might not understand the physics of it, but I've done a lot of work with the Stark power cores," she tells Alura. "And I've read a lot of the stuff you have on crystal about the way the sun cores work. I don't know if I'll be much help, but I'd like to pitch in anyway," she offers. "I'd love to be a part of this project." Clearly, the idea of a project of such limitless scope appeals to her endless enthusiasm for scientific curiousity.

Conner Kent has posed:
It is all like magic to Conner, really. Except not the magic-magic that gives him allergies. He is probably the dumbest here, and his science ends in Newton Laws and basic trigonometrics. He is in college studying politics, history and how to write well.

"It is not the knowledge alone. They have lived two generations on survival mode," points out Conner. "Kandor might have a few good engineers still, since they needed to keep their tech going as long as possible, but I doubt their scientists are up to the standards of Krypton before the destruction. Good thing they have Alura. And I really hope other alien governments are willing to help with the other cities."

Alura In-Ze has posed:
Alura folds her arms and nods. "Exactly. And I'd rather hoped you'd say that Caitlin. We're rapidly approaching the day we'll be able to restore Kandor and I'll need help here on the ground. I expect things will go smoothly. I don't see why they wouldn't."

She then nods to the portal, "Everyone back through. New Krypton isn't going anywhere." Alura takes in a breath of the air and then exhales slowly. "It's going to be note worthy but I don't really care for renown Monet. I've had enough of that in my life. It's still strange to me to be a celebrity on Earth."

She chuckles and then ushers the wide eyed humans back through the portal to Earth. Then, she offers Conner a fist bump, and heads back through too. New Krypton tour is now complete. "Only time will tell Conner. Only time will tell."