Chapter 1: New Zenn-La

Gliding through the spaceways, the Silver Surfer was at a peace with himself.  He felt connected to the universe surrounding him, yet he also felt very alone.  No matter what he did, he could not fill the void left in his being.  His thoughts drifted to Zenn-La…

Suddenly, he saw a glow, millions of miles, parsecs away.  To others, it would have only been a small dot, but Silver Surfer was no stranger to this galaxy.  This was something new, he did not remember seeing it before.

He raced forward.  As he drew closer, the object grew, and he could soon tell it was a planet.  A familiar one.  Could it be? He wondered to himself.  No.

But it was.  It was the place he once called home.  He had no doubt about it, he had found Zenn-La.

He entered the world’s atmosphere and descended on to the planet, where he was welcomed by Shalla Bal, his one true love.  It was as if they were drawn together.

The two embraced, hugging each other tightly as if they would never let go.

“How is this possible?” he asked, “I had thought Zenn-La was destroyed.  What happened?  And how did Zenn-La appear here?  I don’t recall it being in this area of the universe before.”

“Quiet, Norrin Radd,” Shalla Bal hushed, placing her index finger on his lips, “Zenn-La is alive and well.  The trick is finding us.”

Silver Surfer was bewildered by this statement.  “But I. . . did. . .” Everything around him was then gone.  Shalla Bal had faded out of existence once more, and he was left with nothing but the deep cold space all around him.

Silver Surfer then awoke from his trance.  This was the third time he had such a vision occur after losing consciousness on his board.  What did it mean?  Was Mephisto playing with his mind or was it possible - Could Zenn-La still exist in some unknown part of the cosmos?  The Silver Surfer had to know the answer to this riddle, but how could he?  How could he search all the stars of Eternity for the place he called home?

Silver Surfer fell to his knees and wept, his mind confused and hopeless.  Then, he heard a voice.  “Son.”  The commanding voice was that of his father.

“Father?”  Silver Surfer looked up but saw no one.  Still, he was comforted by the sound of his father’s voice.  A voice he had not heard since the beginning of adulthood.

“Son, you are needed.  At home.”

“But, father, home has been destroyed.  It has perished, as did you years before it.”  Silver Surfer’s mind then considered the possibility that someone was trying to manipulate him.  But as much as his logic tried to think through the situation, his heart felt a sense of safety, as if his father was truly speaking to him.

“Zenn-La lives, my son.”

“But where, father?”

“From the Tressid Galaxy's center travel in the direction of the Kormus Nebulae 612.45 light-years. Vector at a 14.62 degree angle right and continue another 43.95 light years. In the shadow of a crèche of proto-stars, you will find home.”

The voice then left.  And Silver Surfer was left to ponder what it all meant and what he would do next.  He decided he had to find out what was at the location described to him.  If it was all some elaborate trap, then he would have to fall into it.  He would not be able to rest until he came to the bottom of it.

The Silver Surfer then departed, heading at speeds faster than that of light to what he hoped would be Zenn-La.

As he soared closer to the object, following the instructions from his dream, he felt more and more assured that he had finally returned home.

He approached the planet and then made his way into its atmosphere.  He wondered if this could all be another dream, as every single detail was unmistakably his home. 

He looked upon the world below him with much joy.  Suddenly, he saw a monument, one constructed in his own likeness.  It was a large statue with a dull, metallic shine.  It was of him, standing tall with his board standing up, parallel to him.

He descended down to the ground toward it, onto a crowded street below him.  His fellow Zenn-Lavians stopped in their steps to watch the return of a legend, Norrin Radd – the one who sacrificed his very freedom to save their world.

Making his way through the crowd, an older man walked in front of him and kneeled, “Norrin Radd, it is an honor… welcome!”

“Sir, how is all this possible?  I saw Zenn-La destroyed with my own eyes.”

The man rose and hung his head down out of sorrow and respect, “As did I… what you see is New Zenn-La, a world created in our homeworld’s image to continue its legacy.”

Silver Surfer was amazed at what was conceived here, it truly was made in Zenn-La’s image.  The man then introduced himself as Zilas Flantz and began to give Silver Surfer a tour of the world.

“Norrin Radd, we would like to thank you,” he said in the middle of their walk, “These people and I are all that is left of Zenn-La, we were saved because of you.  Your courage against the World Devourer inspired Zenn-La to begin exploring the spaceways once more.  It was your act of heroism that sparked motivation to see new things.  Over the years, Zenn-La built new space stations and fleets to explore other worlds and secure our safety.  The people you see here were all on one of those stations or fleets when… when Zenn-La perished.”

“And what of Shalla…?” Silver Surfer was almost too afraid to ask the question.  He now knew that the Shalla Bal he had seen since taking on the Power Cosmic was nothing more than an illusion of Galactus.  Was she too killed in the destruction of Zenn-La by the Other?  Or could it be that she survived all these years?

“I’m sorry, Norrin, but she’s gone.”

Zilas Flantz continued his tour of New Zenn-La and then found the Surfer a place to stay.

Silver Surfer spent the next several days walking the place.  It took a while for him to get used to it, his mind assured him it was a new place to him, but his senses felt at home.

As he walked around the main city of the world, he discovered many things were different between the Zenn-La he once knew and the Zenn-La he now walked on, but the changes were improvements.  The desire for knowledge and adventure had rekindled in the hearts of his people.  After Zilas’ words, he couldn’t help but think he had something to do with the change.

On one day, he walked into a classroom.  There they were teaching the history of Zenn-La and the evolution of its technology.  He was just as amazed with the subject as he ever was before.

The children rushed to see him and begged him to tell of how he confronted the World Devourer when he threatened to destroy Zenn-La.  He started from the beginning.  Telling of his life as Norrin Radd and the woman he loved, Shalla Bal.  He told them of his desires to explore other worlds, during a time when his home was bored of such things.  Then he told them about Galactus.  How the Devourer of Worlds transformed his very being and enriched him with the Power Cosmic.

His story continued, as he told the Zenn-Lavian children of Earth, his second home, and how he teamed with a group of four individuals to betray Galactus to save yet another planet from the Devourer’s hunger.

To the children, he was a hero… a legend.  But he could sense he was something else as well… different.  As long as he was covered with silver, he would always be different.

Silver Surfer left the school and soared above the city, deciding what he should next do with his life.  Could he settle down and make a new home here?  Or was he destined for the stars?  Perhaps he would never have a permanent home, but for now, he decided it was time to be Norrin Radd once more.

It was getting dark now, and much of the city was asleep.  He decided it was time to call it a day.  He descended down and hovered into his new apartment.  He then tucked his board beneath his bed, and, using the Power Cosmic, transformed his body from a creation of Galactus to a man of flesh.  He was Norrin Radd once more.  And now, he was going to do something he missed for a long time.  It was his time to sleep.

Norrin Radd awoke from his slumber at the sound of sobbing in the distance.  At first, he tried to ignore the noise, but could not.

He arose from his bed and tried to find the noise.  It sounded distinctly like weeping, but he could not figure out where it was coming from.  It was as if its origin was from every direction.

He opened the door of his apartment and began to walk down the hall.  Though he knew it was the same hall as before, something seemed different, yet oddly familiar.  Perhaps his mind was playing tricks on him?  Could the excitement of the day before be affecting his senses?

He walked further down the hall.  The sobbing was getting closer.  He began to hear some talking as well.  It was a monologue, no, a rant.

As he continued down the path, he came by a mirror.  He was in total shock.  Before his very eyes was the face of a young man.  As he stared at his own reflection, he saw the face of a young man, whose name was Norrin Radd.  “How can this be?” he asked himself.  When he transformed his body to look like he did as Norrin Radd, did he unknowingly make himself look more youthful as well?

Suddenly, a door opened.  A man stumbled out of it and dropped to the floor, exhausted.  

Norrin Radd came closer to the man and asked if he could help him.

“Help?!” came the man in a weakened shout, “It was you who has done this to me!  You cannot help me!”  The man then lifted his head in disappointment.

Norrin Radd recognized the man as his father.  His face looked beaten up, almost lifeless.  The man then quickly turned away, “Do not look at my face!”

“Let me help you, father,” Norrin Radd said, as tears welded up in his eyes.

“Help me?!  You betrayed me!  No one in Zenn-La would look at my face again, and then… you betrayed me!  Turned against me… turned into one of them!”

“Father… I am sorry, but I can help you now, I can take care of that!”

“Didn’t you hear me?!  I am an outcast!  Ruined!”  His father then looked up at Norrin Radd again.  His father’s face was red and the veins in his neck bulged out like they were about to burst.  “NO ONE WILL LOOK UPON THIS FACE AGAIN!”

His father then began to dig his nails under his flesh.  He began to pull chunks of flesh from his own face. Then, as he dug his nails deeper, he began to pull his face away like a mask, the thick epidermis being pulled off and flung toward his son.

“Father, no!  Don’t die!  Forgive me!”  Norrin Radd kneeled down, as his heart felt torn in two.

“It is too late… I am already dying.”  His father then looked farther down at his own wrists, and Norrin Radd’s eyes quickly followed.  His father’s wrists were slit.  “You killed me, Norrin Radd.  Thank you for killing me.”

His father then collapsed and before Norrin Radd could do anything, he had awoken with a shout.  

Zilas Flantz quickly stormed into his room, “What was that?!  Are you all right?!  Have you been hurt?!”  He asked, seeing that the Silver Surfer was no longer silver.  His image was now that of any other Zenn-Lavian, but pale, as of he had just seen a ghost, with the face of fear.

“I am sorry, Zilas.  I had a… nightmare.”  Norrin Radd was bewildered.  Why were these buried memories coming back to haunt him?  Was it this place?  Would he ever be able to call any place home again?

He was determined to confront his past, to get to the bottom of what was haunting him, what was always haunting him, but his mind was too filled with questions to go back to sleep.  He called upon his board and took to the sky, where he could always think the best.  But his thoughts kept drifting to his father.

He remembered the incident clearly.  He was so proud of his father, Jartran Radd, when he won the esteemed Delta Award, for his invention, the Psi-Sonic Transmitter.  They said the devise revolutionized the psycho-recreational industry – an industry in which his father despised.  The machine he created allowed Zenn-Lavians to play games and live out experiences in a dream machine.  Jartran would have preferred using his scientific abilities to help Zenn-La do much more, to explore new worlds and create new things, but that was not where the research funding was.  Zenn-La wanted entertainment and enjoyment and had lost its thirst for knowledge.

Then, Norrin Radd and the rest of Zenn-La learned the truth.  Jartran Radd had used another man’s research without authority or acknowledgement.  Norrin Radd was disappointed and ashamed.  He always thought his father was perfect, now he learned he was not.

His father insisted that the media had blown the incident out of proportion.  He simply forgot to cite a small piece of a giant equation.  But Norrin Radd did not forgive his father.  No one had.  His father then did what many Zenn-Lavians, including Norrin’s own mother had done.  He shot himself*.

(*For more details on Norrin Radd’s father and his death, see Silver Surfer #50)

Norrin Radd sat on his board and mourned the death of his father.  If only he had been more understanding, if only he had listened to his father, instead of shunning him away like the rest of their world.

If only he hadn’t been responsible for his father’s death.

Continued in Chapter 2

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