6 Chapter 5: Governing Council

*** P.O.V. 3rd person, 8 years before the destruction

"I would be very honored to serve as vice-head of thinker guild but I think zor-el would be more suited than I am," kar-el spoke to the elders that governed the whole of krypton.

" Kar-el, it is commendable that you still have modesty even after having such great intellect but we have decided to appoint you after careful consideration. zor-el is a great scientist no doubt about it, that's why he is not suitable for this role. he would be more suited to do a joint research project with the military guild as head of the team. while you are one of the greatest intellects that krypton has to offer in terms of capability, you still stand short on pure genius which is why we have chosen you instead of him for this role.",

the head elder looked at others and then continues, " For you to truly shine like a diamond, you have to learn and be tempered as time pass and one day you too will be equal to Jor-el."

"What about my role as assistant to Jor-el then?" kar-el asked.

A different elder replied this time, " we have appointed you as his assistant so that you can learn from him and as we see it, you have already learned what is necessary and if you continue to remain in the same position you will only waste your potential. it's times that you step up a little."

The elder in the leftmost corner spoke this time," Now go and prove us that we were right about investing in you, step outside of Jor-el's shadow."

" As you wish, elders, " kar-el said and turned to exit the council, and the only thought he had as he was exiting the council was,' you may insult elders for their incompetence in realizing krypton's end but you have to give it to them that they know how to make someone feel special.'

** kar-el P.O.V.

5 years, it took me five years to finally get access to restricted files by earning the council's trust but finally I could say that in a month my project would be complete.

I entered the hovercraft waiting for me and told Jasper to take me to Jor-el's house. it had been some time since Jor-El's marriage and after marriage, he finally stopped sleeping at the guild but alura told me that it took much persuasion from Lara to make him return home every day. Sometimes I thanked god that I was not as insensitive as Jor-el. I had a pretty good relationship with both of my cousins-in-law. I visited both of them on the weekends as Lara taught me how to play musical instruments while kara had become pretty attached to me as I was the youngest member in the house of El after her, she whined if I won't go to visit her often but I think it was mostly because of sweets that I gave to her. Playing musical instruments had become my hobby these days just like Jor-el liked to practice martial arts when he was young. Both Jor-el and zor-el had been busy recently with their projects, Jor-el was trying to see if anything could be done to evacuate the population of krypton instantly because the council would never agree to evacuate so the only option according to him was to betray the council and forcefully evacuate the population just before the destruction of krypton. meanwhile, zor-el was busy with a joint project done with the military guild even though he wanted to help Jor-el as it was originally his idea but he couldn't do it because of his current project.

I stopped thinking about matters and exited the vehicle as I reached my destination.

Stepping inside the house,

"good afternoon Lara, is my cousin home today?" I asked as I sat on the sofa in the living room.

"Sadly no, he should be in his lab trying to reach the breakthrough that he is so stressed about since last month, what took you so long today? did you visit kara first today?" she replied while serving refreshments for both of us.

"Just got summoned by the council in the morning on urgent notice, I got appointed as vice head of thinker guild. " I answered her question while after quenching my thirst.

" Congratulations on getting such a high position at such young age. sometimes, I feel like you are more of an adult than a youngster with how you behave. It worries me a little that it may create problems for you later on. " she told me with worry in her eyes.

" it would be something that needs attention if we do have time in our hands. " I sighed," krypton is taking his last breaths while we still trying to find resources that can be extracted from it. I'm more worried about the future of Kryptonian lineage than my non-existent relationship outside the house of El."

" we will find a solution," she said while standing up, " now let's continue your lessons from where we last left it."

***

"testing no. 348, initialize all servers and restart them"

** restarting all servers **

**all servers online and in optimal performance**

" hi, can you hear me?" I asked as I checked the logs of data inside my lab.

"yes, I can " replied the A.I. projection that had taken the form of a ball of binary language in the center of the lab currently.

" Okay, very good. everything is looking fine so far. I'm known as kar-el from the house of EL, I am your creator. can you tell me who you are?" I asked the A.I. while checking the coding on my tablet.

" yes, kar-el. I'm a bottom-to-top sentinel A.I. capable of growth and free will developed by you while observing prime Kryptonian sentinel A.I." replied as the projection shrank and expanded.

" very good, can you access the data available around you?" I asked finally looking at the projected hologram.

" I can currently access data files from 485 servers and separate nodes."

" very well, then why don't you take your first independent decision. you are allowed to choose your gender as you like as well as your name." I said while waiting for A.I.'s response.

" I'm sorry kar-el but I have already taken 11 independent decisions before I began interacting with you which includes accessing data to learn about common sense as well as basic knowledge necessary to interact with someone. I have also gained access to this room's surveillance camera by overriding the commands of A.I. that goes by the name of Newt." the non-gender voice changed to a female voice, " I would also appreciate it if you give me a name yourself. "

A silence settled in the lab as she finished talking.

It would be an understatement to say that I was impressed with her, she truly took my voice away for a few moments.

" excellent, JUST EXCELLENT. I DID IT. I. DID. IT. YOU ARE AMAZING!" I downright screamed while shattering the silence. I was downright thrilled.

it took me a few minutes to calm my breath, 'all of my hard work finally paid off.' I thought

" Selena, your name will be Selena." I finally told her.

" thank you, what would be my first orders be, kar-el?" asked Selena.

" Collects all the information about exotic elements found in the database. we have much work to accomplish. " I told her as I left the lab to visit Jor-el.