Man of Steel: The Official Movie Novelization Read Online Free PDF

breast. He could tell she was having second thoughts.
    “What if the natives won’t accept him?” she asked. “He’ll be an outcast, a freak. They’ll kill him.”
    “How?” Jor-El asked, trying to reassure her. “He’ll be like a god to them.”
    Her eyes said that she still wasn’t sure.
    “What if the ship doesn’t make it?” Shaking her head, she gazed down at the newborn in her arms. “I can’t do it. I thought I could, but now that’s he’s here—”
    Jor-El shared her feelings. The very sight of their child stirred him even more powerfully than he had expected. He couldn’t blame Lara for wanting to hold onto her baby —their baby. He too felt an almost overpowering desire to shelter the boy, and watch him grow to manhood. But fate had determined otherwise.
    “Lara, we’ve been through this,” he said gently. “Krypton is doomed. It’s his only chance now. Our people’s only chance.”
    A strident alarm blared throughout the Citadel, interrupting the poignant moment. Jor-El looked up in dismay
    “Kelex!” he called. “What is it?”
    The robot manservant had followed Jor-El into the observatory. He accessed the Citadel’s perimeter sensors. A holographic display, projected from the ’bot’s chest, showed five blinking triangles converging on a symbolic representation of their home.
    “Five attack ships converging from the east,” Kelex confirmed. “Citadel defenses are being scanned and evaluated—”
    Jor-El’s heart sank.
    “Gods, we’re out of time.” He looked urgently at Lara. “Get him ready. I’ll transfer the Codex. ”
    He stepped forward to take Kal-El, but Lara refused to let him go. She hugged the baby close.
    “Wait! Wait!” she protested. “Just a moment more!”
    He wished desperately he could grant her this, but they had to complete the preparations while there was still time. Events were progressing far too swiftly.
    “We have to say good-bye, Lara!” he replied firmly
    “No! Let me look at him!” A primal maternal instinct warred with the cruel reality of their situation as she caressed Kal-El’s cherubic face. Her eyes glistened. Her voice was hoarse with emotion. “We’ll never get to see him walk. Never hear him say our names—”
    Her naked anguish broke his heart.
    “I know. I know, my love. But somewhere out there, amongst the stars... he will live.”
    With that he gently pried Kal-El from her grip. An agonizing sob escaped her as she surrendered to necessity. Jor-El handed his son over to Kelex, who placed the baby in the womb-like cradle beneath the starcraft. Kal-El cooed happily, trusting that all was well. Jor-El was grateful for the infant’s good nature. Tears and tantrums would only make their separation all the harder.
    As Kelex tucked his charge securely into place, Jor-El climbed into a looming nano-surgery robot waiting silently in the wings. The sophisticated exoskeleton closed around him. A multi-spectrum visor clicked into place before his eyes. Encased in the robot, he approached the cradle and gazed down at his son. The visor allowed him to see through Kal-El’s epidermis to gaze directly on the baby’s tiny heart.
    The sight of his son’s essence, pulsing before his eyes, left Jor-El awash in emotion. That was his own Kryptonian flesh and blood, throbbing with new life.
    He nodded at Kelex, who prepared the skull for the procedure.
    “Uploading the Codex, sir.”
    A holographic readout confirmed the data link. Jor-El activated the carrier beam and a shimmering blue ray passed through the Codex on its way to Kal-El’s heart. The process disintegrated the Codex, breaking it down into digitized information which was then transmitted directly into the baby’s bloodstream. Kal-El gazed wide-eyed at the pretty lights, unharmed by the painless procedure.
    It was over in a matter of moments. No trace of the Codex remained, save for the data infused into the unknowing Kryptonian child.
    Almost done, Jor-El thought. He cut off