All Things Considered - Kal'El of Krypton

“Welcome to All Things Considered. I’m host Robert Siegel, joined this evening by my colleague Huw Edwards, anchor of Britain’s most popular news program, BBC News at Ten. Audie Cornish and Melissa Block will appear later in this broadcast. Welcome, Huw.
“Thank you, Robert. It is an honor and a privilege to be here, this evening. Our audience should know that we have chosen to simultaneously broadcast this programme on NPR and the BBC, this evening. We have a very special interview for you, tonight. Robert and I, earlier today, interviewed by interplanetary radio none other than Kal'El, of Krypton, from a broadcast station on Earth-2, where a version of WWII rages.”
“Thanks, Huw. Kal'El contacted Huw and me three weeks ago, and offered to allow us to ask enough questions to fill an hour-long broadcast. The distance between his world and ours means a 26-second time-lag existed between the time we ask the question and the time he hears it, and then there's another 26 seconds for us to hear his reply. This meant we could not broadcast the interview over the air, live. However, we present the interview as recorded, in its entirety, having only edited it to reduce the 52 seconds of delay.”
<Recording begins.>
SIEGEL: “Thank you for your time today, Kal'El. Mr. Edwards is sitting beside me, here in the NPR studio in New York. Given the time-lag, I will jump right in to the questions.
“Firstly, let me say that in our world, Kal'El of Krypton – ‘Superman’ as he’s otherwise known – has been a part of U.S. culture since June of 1938. Our understanding is that he was actually created, whole cloth, by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Schuster in 1933, while those two young men were in high school in Cleveland, Ohio.
“Yet, eight months ago, your world and three others appeared in our sky, and one of them included you, in a version of the world that bears remarkable similarity to our Earth in 1940 – only with the addition of beings such as yourself. Of all the changes Siegel and Schuster’s character has undergone through the decades, and all the different ways he has appeared in all sorts of different formats, do any of them even come close to an accurate representation?
KAL'EL: "Not really. The version from the comics both our Earths have in common from 1938 and '39 is the closest match for what I was like when I met Jerry and Joe in Cleveland in '33, but they had to take a few liberties, because it was a comic book. I didn't really wear a costume that much until '37, for one thing, and was never a reporter, though I was and am friends with a few - none quite like their Lois Lane, though."
EDWARDS: “That’s quite fascinating. While your abilities may not quite match everything that’s been written, here, they are nevertheless quite extraordinary. So, when can we expect a visit?”
KAL'EL: "Probably not until after the war, and even then, not until we have some faster means of getting from planet to planet. I'm needed a lot these days, even without the occasional spy, saboteur, or fifth columnist making trouble."
SIEGEL: “As you noted, you have quite a lot on your plate, before you can start traveling to different planets. However, the fact that you contacted Mr. Edwards and me seems to indicate that our world does hold considerable interest for you. Given your unique background and upbringing, what parts of our world interest you the most? What aspects do you find the most troubling?”
KAL'EL: "The greater tolerance of your world gives me hope for this one: I hope that one day, there will be no lynchings that need stopping, no children being beaten for being the wrong color in the wrong neighborhood. On the negative side, the way many of your nations seem intent on disarming your populations, despite knowing that the police simply can't be everywhere, the way they seem to want to make everyone more dependent on the government, rather than less, is very troubling. Your social programs are both good and bad: on both our worlds, FDR proved that they're needed, but most people need a hand up, far more than they need a hand out."
EDWARDS: “Currently, the United States and other space-faring nations on this world have substantially increased research and construction of new spacecraft – with some surprising results. Does our world’s rapid development of interplanetary capability pose any concern, over there?”
KAL'EL: "Yes, certainly. Despite our initial impression, it turns out that your world is much more wealthy than ours, partly because your population is so much larger, and your technological capabilities are... awesome, in ways both wonderful and terrifying. You've also suffered a serious attack from one of the nations on our world. On top of that, your own conservatives are pretty dismayed by some of your cultural developments. Imagine how that must look to more traditional people, here? Now that we understand how advanced you really are, there is some concern that you will use your technological superiority to impose your cultural values, in the name of keeping yourselves safe. Given the recent attack you suffered, it's easy to say that you have justification for any such actions. But, does that make it the right thing to do?"
SIEGEL: “What sort of agreements would you like to see, in place, before travel between our worlds becomes commonplace? What do you think are the primary areas of concern?
KAL'EL: "Well, for my part, I'd like to see us figure out a way to keep criminals and tyrants from fleeing to our world to try to escape from yours. I'm pretty sure you'd like to prevent some of our villains from coming to your world, as well. We've certainly got some difficult people, here, even aside from the war. I'd also like to see controls on the spread of weapons technology, and I think a lot of people here would prefer the ability to control the spread of movies and literature that maybe we're not ready for. That does run into some First Amendment problems, though, but we're much more willing to accept the notion of "community standards" than you seem to be. The notion that individuals are so willing to disrespect the sensibilities of their neighbors is one of the aspects of your culture that we find particularly troubling."
EDWARDS: “I think your comments will provoke a great deal of conversation, on our world. Some considerable discussion about your presence in our sky is ongoing. The fact is, your world’s version of Adolf Hitler has drawn us into your war, there. Six months ago, the Führer launched an unprovoked attack on our world, which killed nearly 15 million people in three cities. The United States, here, has since retaliated with an apparently successful nuclear strike. This is only the third time such weapons have been used, by anyone on our planet. Could you have stopped the NAZI attack? Could anyone on your world have saved those lives?”
KAL'EL: "If I had known about the launch far enough in advance, and if I had been able to get into Germany soon enough, without being spotted, and if none of their own extraordinary operatives, or not enough of them, were on the scene, then I probably could have stopped the launches. That's a lot of 'ifs', though. I couldn't have stopped them after they were in orbit, which is when I did find out about it. Neither could Captain Marvel, by then, and while Green Lantern and Doctor Fate are powerful, they aren't as fast as either of us."
SIEGEL: “Adolf Hitler is considered one our history’s most profoundly evil figures, responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of people he considered ‘undesirables’ – not just in conquered territories, but even from amongst the German people. Indications are that your Hitler is currently engaged in the same sort of activities, on your Earth. Do you intend to take up arms against him? If so, when? If not, why not?
KAL'EL: "You could say that I already have: while there isn't enough concrete proof, there's a mountain of circumstantial evidence that a lot of the criminals I've faced in the last two or three years have been fifth columnists working for either Mr. Hitler, or Mr. Stalin - mostly Stalin. The numbers have gotten bigger since the Lend-Lease Act became law."
EDWARDS: “Well, let’s set aside the war for the moment, shall we? My viewers in Great Britain have considerable interest in your background. As you stated earlier, the version of ‘Superman’ created by Mr. Siegel and Mr. Schuster differs considerably from you. Without revealing too much, were you actually raised in rural America? How did your upbringing affect your view of the world?”
KAL'EL: "I was. It's fairly well-known on this Earth that Phil Wylie's novel, Gladiator, was mostly based on my life up to about 1925, though only the parts relating to the Great War aren't very embellished, and the end is pure fantasy. I have to say that I was very lucky to be found by two such loving parents - that's one thing the funny-books generally get right - and it was their example that made me the man I am today, far more than my powers. As for life in small-town America, I have to say I can't imagine a better way to grow up, but I'd imagine a guy who grew up in a neighborhood in Brooklyn would say the same thing about playing stick-ball on his street. Pop wouldn't let me play much sports after elementary school, because it wouldn't have been fair, but I went to the dances and barn-raises and the swimming-holes, with all the other kids. I made a little pocket money when people needed to bring in the hay, like most of the boys. Everybody knew everybody and looked after each other's kids, and you could keep your doors unlocked at night; you still can, actually. I've been to some amazing places, but when I want a chance to just rest for a while, I go to Ma's place and sit on the porch with a glass of sun-tea. I'd hate for that to get lost."
SIEGEL: “At what age did you learn about Krypton? Where is it – or was it – located in, space? What star did it orbit?”
KAL'EL: "When I was twelve, my father, or adopted father if you prefer, showed me the landing rocket that brought me to Earth. The computer in the rocket had an enormous store of knowledge, that even now, I haven't finished sorting through. The red sun you call Gamma Crucis, or Gacrux, is the one my ancestors called Rao. It underwent a helium flash, a sort of nova, in about 1539, though that wasn't seen on this Earth until 1627. The fact that it doesn't seem to have happened yet in your timeline gives me some hope."
EDWARDS: “In the months since the other Earths appeared, we’ve been visited by what are apparently reconnaissance craft from planets in your solar system – Mars, to be specific. Were you aware of the existence of those civilizations? What can you tell us about them? Should we be concerned?”
KAL'EL: "Yes, you should be concerned. We've known there was life on our Mars since the Martian Invasion of 1895, and from that, we know that at least one faction is, or was, hostile. The Martians who invaded Earth back then didn't have vessels of such starkly phenomenal speed, and we only won because they couldn't handle our diseases."
SIEGEL: “Well, that’s rather alarming. It seems that we face more than one danger. Fortunately, it seems that your world has more than one extraordinary being. It also seems that extraordinary individuals have started to appear, here, as well. Do you have any insight as to why people such as you exist? Do you have any idea why people, here, have suddenly started to manifest – well – super-powers? What’s the source of this power?”
KAL'EL: "I don't know, but given that your people apparently started gaining powers only after Dr. Goddard's probe entered orbit around your Earth, I think it's possible that the enhanced fuel he used, or something else that hitched a ride on the probe, might be responsible."
EDWARDS: “Are you the most extraordinarily gifted individual on your world? Or do similarly-gifted individuals exist, there, in addition to you?”
KAL'EL: "I guess that depends on what you mean. I've arm-wrestled Captain Marvel for charity, we've both raced the Flash, and while I usually come out ahead in strength, it's always a challenge - and no-one has beaten the Flash in a race. Green Lantern and Dr. Fate can do many things I can't, but they both seem to be behind me in raw force."
SIEGEL: “According to what you’ve said, Krypton was a real place, and you arrived on your Earth, there, in a spacecraft many years ago. Do other advanced civilizations exist in the galaxy of which your world is a part?”
KAL'EL: "I don't really know. I've met two versions of the Legion of Superheroes, both of them from alternate worlds like yours, that are farther in the future than ours, and both had aliens from many worlds as members - though most of those 'aliens' are descendants of humans taken from their Earths some time in the Stone Age. Given how much like a human I am, and the lack of humanoids in Krypton's fossil record before about seventy-eight thousand years ago, that may be where my own ancestors came from. So, there may be humans all over the galaxy, along with all sorts of aliens, or there may not."
SIEGEL: "That's extraordinary. How long does it take to travel through space, there? Are spacecraft restricted to the speed of light, as Einstein has indicated, or do those civilizations have some sort of warp drive or hyperspace engines? How long did it take the craft that brought you to reach your Earth?
EDWARDS: "Hang on. Your Einstein is still alive, isn't he? What does he say about space travel and the speed of light?"
KAL'EL: "Pretty much what he said on your world. As for faster than light travel, that's complicated. In the Legion's, ah, 'worldline', everyone uses hyperdrive for interstellar journeys, and space-time warping for fast sub-light interplanetary trips, and it's perfectly safe. In our history, my people never quite developed a practical warp drive, and our hyperdrive experiments resulted in a nightmare that bears an eerie resemblance to one of your movies that the computer from my landing rocket recently alerted me to: it's called 'Event Horizon', and apart from details like language, names and faces, and such, it's a very close match for the black box records from our first manned hyperdrive vessel. Even the name references the same phenomenon, though a literal translation would be 'Fascinating Border'. This made us more than a little hostile to anyone who came to us from hyperspace, which the computer records show happened at least three times. All three left after being shot at instead of talked to, but fortunately, no-one invaded.
The only friendly contact we had was Mon'El, Lar Gand of Daxam, who's in your comics. He came in a plasma-sail spacecraft, like the one my father built, but more advanced, single stage, and reusable, though the sail was a bit smaller, so he didn't get to Earth until I was a teenager. That meeting went sort of like the one in your comics did, but I took him directly to the Legion when he started having an allergic reaction to lead, instead of sticking him in the Phantom Zone."
EDWARDS: "I vaguely remember that film. You're saying that hyperspace is some sort of nightmare dimension? Some hellish place?"
KAL'EL: "The one my people found, yes. I don't know if it's the only hyperspace that we can reach, but it's the only one I know of, for my worldline. The version the Legion used was different, but they told me that some early experiments did lead to other hyperspaces, more dangerous, or just less useful."
SIEGEL: "You just used the term, 'world-line,' when you referred to the Legion. Our understanding is that the Legion of Superheroes lies in the future of the your galaxy. Is that what you mean?"
KAL'EL: "When I first visited them, I thought they were in the future of this world, but later on, Querl - Brainiac 5 - explained that they wasn't the case, that there were many different dimensions, where history was at an earlier or later point. He called these dimensions 'worldlines', and said mine was one of the easiest for them to access."
SIEGEL: “Is this information widely known, in your world?”
KAL'EL: "Not really, though it isn't a secret."
EDWARDS: “Do you have advanced Kryptonian technology available to you? Is it anything you’d willingly share?”
KAL'EL: "I have to be careful about that, because the technology from the crashed remnants of the acceleration stage of the vessel that brought me here are already being misused, and some items that I did give out for study were almost immediately stolen, and in some cases, used against me. Also, Kryptonian technology is so far in advance of Earth's that it can barely be studied, and can't really even be copied, except with other extraordinary technology, like old Professor Dalton's Imperfect Duplicator Ray."
SIEGEL: “I not sure that answer will make anyone here happy, given the threats we face not only from your world and your Solar System, but from other worlds in the galaxy on your side of the space-portal. Do you have any idea why all of these portals suddenly opened?”
KAL'EL: "No. Even the best scientists and mystics I've spoken to don't know that."
EDWARDS: “Do you believe it could be a reversible process, or are we destined to be neighbors for the foreseeable future?”
KAL'EL: "I really don't know, nor does anyone I've discussed it with."
SIEGEL: “Given the dangers, would you consider participation in – for want of a better description – some sort of Justice League or Avengers? A group of extraordinary individuals tasked with defense of our worlds?”
KAL'EL: "Well, I'm already an associate member of the Justice Society of America, so the answer to that is yes. I normally wouldn't have time to devote to it, but the sort of threats a group like that would face are things I'd want to stop, anyway."
EDWARDS: “How would you like to see such a group, or organization, comprised or governed? Would you like to see it as a corporation, or exist under the sponsorship of a government? Would you prefer it operate as an international Non-Governmental Organization, perhaps under the auspices of some sort of interplanetary United Nations?”
KAL'EL: "The latter, though I can see great problems with forming anything like your United Nations, or even our League of Nations, from the nations of our five Earths."
SIEGEL: “Would you lead such an organization? What sort of criteria would you set for those who wish to join as colleagues? Would you require permission of sovereign nations to operate in their territory? Or would you prefer to see it primarily focus on extraterrestrial threats?”
KAL'EL: "If I were elected leader, or appointed by a legitimate authority, then I would, but I would not nominate myself. I did lead the Legion of Super Heroes for a few weeks once, during my longest visit with them. For membership, having something useful to contribute, being able to work with others, and not being an unreformed criminal or would-be tyrant seem like the most important criteria. I'd say it should focus on extraterrestrial threats. I'm no politician, but I've seen how they react to anything that hints at a loss of personal power, much less national sovereignty."
EDWARDS: “Until now, we’ve primarily focused on the interaction between our two Earths. However, portals have opened to three others, all of which are visible from our world. Have you devoted much thought to those three? Which of them interests you, the most?”
KAL'EL: "I would have to say the one between our worlds, being farthest in the past, interests me the most. I've always liked history, and a Rome ruled by King Arthur is fascinating."
SIEGEL: “The cultural differences between your world and ours are quite profound, but the similarities are enough that your people could find our experiences valuable. However, the other three Earths are even more, well, culturally remote, let’s say. How should we deal with them? Would you prefer to see proactive efforts, or more ‘hands-off’ approaches?”
KAL'EL: "I'd say that you, and we, once we're out there, should show restraint in dealing with less advanced worlds, especially the two farthest 'back'. The history of colonialism in both our Earths show how bad it can be for the less advanced party, when someone more advanced wants to 'engage proactively' with them. With your technology, you could easily overwhelm them and damage their cultures, irreparably. We could do the same, and our colonial history is much closer to us. We haven't gone through the process your historians call 'decolonization,' and I'm not sure how -- or if -- that will happen, here. It seems to be at least somewhat traumatic for everyone involved, if your history is any indication, and maybe it's best to just avoid creating colonies amongst other people, in the first place."
EDWARDS: “Have you any plans to visit them, in the near future? Do you have any bits of advice, or even simple messages, for the people of the other three Earths?”
KAL'EL: "Just like with your Earth, not until after the war. For people on the other Earths, I have this to say:
"Greetings. I know you feel quite concerned about the changes we all face, and I think that's only to be expected. I think I can say, though, that most of people on my world are decent folks, and they don't mean you any harm. We face some pretty serious problems on my world, just now, but we'll resolve them, and we'll do everything we can to make sure you don't get drawn into them. After that, I hope we can meet and figure out a path into the future that's beneficial to everyone."
SIEGEL: “Do you have any final words for our listeners?”
KAL'EL: "From what I understand, you had just started to pull out of some pretty tough times, there, when you suddenly found yourself drawn into our problems. I know that most of us wish we could've prevented the attacks on you; I know I certainly would have tried, had I known of them, in time. Hopefully, our two Americas and our two Allied Europes can work together and end this war quickly. If we can, that may lay the foundation for much closer and more friendly ties, in the future. I just hope everyone, there, remembers that we have more things in common than we have differences, really."
EDWARDS: “Thank you very much for your time, today, Kal'El. I know you have tremendous demands on your time, and a great deal to think about.”
SIEGEL: “You’ve given us a lot to think about, as well. We do appreciate your time, today.
<End Recording>
“This is All Things Considered, on National Public Radio.”
“And a special edition of BBC News at Ten. Thank you for your attention.”
Category:Five Earths - Vignettes