Silver Surfer: Sins of the Father #3 of 3 Written by Marvelite.
Editing and Assistance by Anomaly and Morfex |
Silver Surfer
"Sins of the Father"
Chapter Three of Three: Finality
(Note: This story continues from Sins of the Father #1 of 3 and #2 of 3. The death of Norrin Radd's father and mother were seen and referred to in Silver Surfer #50 by Jim Starlin and Ron Lim)
Chapter 3: Finality
The
Present
Silver
Surfer kneeled on the ground, grabbing his head and weeping.
He had learned the world of New Zenn-La that he had lived on for the last
few days was nothing but an illusion. An
illusion created by Zilas Flantz. He
confronted him to learn what his true motives were.
He found Zilas Flantz was once the rival of his father, Jartran Radd, and
had once had a relationship with his mother, Elmar Radd, before Jartran had won
her heart. But then Zilas Flantz
used his illusion device to show Silver Surfer the full extent of his rivalry
with Jartran Radd. Silver Surfer
always thought his father committed suicide, but now he knew the truth.
Before his
very eyes, he saw Zilas Flantz replay the death of his father in a lifelike
illusion brought about by his elaborate Psycho-Recreational Device.
He learned his father did not commit suicide, but was killed.
Killed by Jartran Radd.
The Silver
Surfer became despondent and felt as if half his heart was torn from his body.
But Zilas Flantz was not through. He
planned on ripping out the other half… and then watch as he killed the son of
his greatest enemy.
“Now, Silver Surfer, I would like to show you something else… How much do you know about your mother’s death?”
Silver
Surfer looked up with anger, “You didn’t!”
Zilas
Flantz then changed the settings of the room again, this time resembling the
interior of a hospital room. Silver
Surfer vaguely recognized the woman that laid in the hospital bed before him…
from pictures he stared at for so many nights.
“Your mother betrayed me… your father stole her from me… they could
not have expected me to stay aside silently…”
The Past
“Congratulations,
Elmar, it is a boy.” The couple
looked happier than they had in ages. Jartran
Radd had hoped that the birth of their son, Norrin, would help patch up their
marriage. He wondered if things
could ever be the same, though. Jartran
and Elmar were both very active in the politics of Zenn-La.
They tried to bring back Zenn-La’s thirst for knowledge, for without
knowledge, life is not worth living. But
that thirst for knowledge was replaced with apathy.
An apathy fed with drugs, in a world where the people have no purpose,
because they had become so advanced they had no need of their own existence.
Instead, computers had kept the planet moving while preventing any true
progress and slowly killing the Zenn-Lavian spirit.
Jartran
Radd was very dedicated to the cause. His
dream was to bring purpose back to Zenn-La.
He tried to change people’s minds and make them aware of what was
happening to their society, but drugs and suicide was quickly dominating his
world. His wife was not as strong
as he was. Soon, she regretted
being cast as an outcast living in the past.
She wanted to bring purpose and progress back to Zenn-La, but many kept
telling her their now computerized world and “mind-enhancement” drugs was
the way of progress and purpose. She
fell victim to their lies, getting addicted to the very substances she worked so
hard against. Her husband tried to
get her help but was quickly discouraged when her cravings and desires for a
substance he tried to keep her away from led to repeated attempts at suicide –
a rising cause of death in Zenn-La.
Now, they
had a son. Jartran Radd worried
that Elmar would not be the proper mother his son needed and that his son might
grow to have the same fate as his mother. He
brought the newborn child to see his mother.
She smiled at him but then began to cry.
Her soul plagued by the same worries of her husband’s, while her flesh
called out for more drugs.
Jartran
took his son and left the room, allowing his wife to be alone and collect her
thoughts, not saying a single word.
Soon
later, another man walked in. It
was Zilas Flantz. “Hello, Elmar.”
“Zilas!
I asked you never to see me again!”
Elmar exclaimed in anger, struggling to raise her voice.
Zilas
shrugged his shoulders and smiled. “I
know you never want to see me again. I
realize you are now ‘happily’ married with Radd, but I thought you may be
interested in seeing this again.” He
held up a containment tube filled with a mild-altering drug he had created.
It was a substance that was even more addictive than others, if a user
was away from it for too long, they would fall into depression, feeling their
only way to feel better was to return to it.
Elmar knew
she had to be strong though, if not for herself, for her family.
“I do not need that, Zilas.”
“Oh,
come now, my dear. I am offering
you a way out, a way to escape the pressures.
Do you really think there is any other way out… besides… you do not
want to become like so many others in Zenn-La?
Do you? Please, for your own
good…”
“GET
OUT!” Elmar exclaimed, tears
swelling up in her eyes.
“Very
well…” Zilas walked over to the
table next to her bed. “Because I
care for you, this is for if you change your mind.”
On one side he placed the tube of drugs. He then pulled out another tube and placed it on the other
side of the table. “And this is
if you want another way out.”
He walked
out of the room, with an evil grim plastered on his face, for he knew what
decision she would make, and he knew it would mean revenge against his nemesis
– the man who stole her from his heart.
Elmar sat
in the hospital room where she had earlier given birth to a boy.
Now she was contemplating the ultimate sin.
She felt she could never learn to be the mother her son would need her to
be, so she leaned forward and reached for the deadly tube.
She injected the substance into herself and laid back, crying, as
everything around her seemed to twirl around in her head, until everything began
to fade into blackness – forever.
Jartran’s
heart broke when he heard the news. His
wife fell victim to the very things he tried to stop in Zenn-La: hopelessness,
drugs, and suicide. It was then he
realized that he could never change Zenn-La.
He quit preaching to others, instead passing his wisdom and passions on
to his son, Norrin Radd.
He would
delay his goal of creating new spaceships and means for finding things beyond
Zenn-La’s grasp, but never left his dreams. Instead, he worked on pointless mind machines, hoping to
generate funds and grants for more meaningful projects.
But Zilas Flantz was not done with him.
The Present
The images
cut through Silver Surfer’s heart, as he witnessed the death of his mother,
who killed herself, only after being urged on by the man before him.
He rose
and confronted Zilas, realizing there was little he could do when everything
around him as just an illusion. “You
got your revenge then… why did you kill my father?!”
“Is that
not obvious? Your father then
breached my territory, creating technology that rivaled my domination of the
psycho-recreational arts industry… I had to put an end to him while making it
look like a suicide and setting him up with alterations to his final research
report.”
Silver
Surfer had a hard time controlling the fury within him but knew he was in no
position to oppose Zilas, while he had control of his mind.
Instead, he plotted to learn more about what was driving this mad man.
“So what do you want with me?” asked Silver Surfer.
“Besides
the fact that you are the child of my greatest enemy and the woman he stole from
me?” He smirked.
“I admit I thought the suicide of your mother and what appeared to be
the suicide of your father would be enough revenge against you, but you were too
much like your father, relentless. You
prevailed at what you sought to accomplish, despite my efforts, and when the
time came, you rose to the occasion, sacrificing yourself to Galactus’ service
in order to save our world. But the
event had an impact on Zenn-La like I had never seen before.
The industry that I so loved and dominated was being replaced with what
your father had tried to bring to Zenn-La.
People were suddenly seeking knowledge, studying the sciences, and
preparing defenses for future attacks. You
saved them from themselves, revived their spirit I thought long dead… you
destroyed my purpose! The
Psycho-Recreational Arts was a thing of the past. I found no purpose on Zenn-La anymore and left.
In death, your father defeated me again… but I will have the last laugh
in seeing you die.” The two then
returned to the natural state of the planet and Zilas Flantz turned to his
machine and twisted some of the nods and mechanisms.
“This was designed especially for a Zenn-Lavian brain, to feed off it.
All this time it has been locked on to your mind, manipulating your brain
waves, making you see and feel and hear and touch what I desire.”
Silver
Surfer felt that then was his chance to use the Power Cosmic against Zilas
Flantz, but felt himself powerless to do so.
Was this just an illusion too?
Zilas
Flantz then walked over to Silver Surfer and placed a headpiece device like his
on the Silver Surfer. “I would
like to show you my latest masterpiece.”
Silver
Surfer then watched as Zilas Flantz program his machine his machine.
All of a
sudden, Silver Surfer was covered with blackness.
He looked down at his hands to see that his flesh had once again turned
to that of Norrin Radd’s. Within himself, he could no longer feel the Power Cosmic flow
through his veins.
He then
heard the voice of Zilas Flantz storm from the shadows.
“Welcome, Norrin Radd, to the corridors your mind.”
He then walked out of the darkness, to reveal himself embodied in silver
and surging with the Power Cosmic. “This
is the place where I will make my final stand.
Together, we will share one fate: death.”
Norrin
Radd knew that this man was mad. He
was so bent on revenge, that he would kill himself in the process of destroying
him. For by killing Norrin Radd
while in the plains of his mind, he would kill them both. “Why would you do this?
You would kill yourself just to destroy me?!”
“What
other reason is there for me to live, Norrin Radd? You destroyed my career, indeed Zenn-La is now gone as well.
I have no purpose to live. Just
this… my last moment of triumph, to put an end to you and your family’s
legacy!”
Zilas
Flantz, engulfed in silver, then blasted the Power Cosmic at Norrin Radd.
Norrin
Radd quickly dodged the attack, trying to escape the inevitable death.
He was at a certain disadvantage, unable to fight back without the Power
Cosmic within him.
He tried
to look within himself for answers. Surely
there was a solution, a way to defeat this foe, who he was unaware of until days
ago. Then he remembered a memory
from his childhood.
He was
walking along his father’s side as a young youth learning about the history of
Zenn-La. They came across a crazed
man. Norrin remembered asking his
dad if a drug substance caused the man’s insanity.
His father showed him the virtual reality system next to the man and
responded, “No, son, this man became an addict of a different drug.
The drug of computers, manipulating machines that went too far to bring
about entertainment. Machines that enter your very mind in order to give you a
perception of reality that is untrue. Until
that distraught reality becomes your reality.”
He then warned his son, “Remember, it is important to always control
your thoughts and emotions. Escapism
is never good. A man must never run
from himself, never let machines control them for you, never let someone else
control your reality.”
The words
struck Norrin Radd’s soul. Zilas
Flantz blasted another shot toward Norrin Radd, but to his surprise, his victim
flung himself right into the blast. This
time, however, the blast was harmless.
“That is
impossible!” Zilas Flantz
shouted.
In
defiance, Norrin Radd clinched his fists together, as his body reemerged in
silver. The Power Cosmic once again
flowed through his body. He then
shot the Power Cosmic at Zilas Flantz, taking him aback. Zilas responded with a blast of his own, but once again it
made no mark on the Silver Surfer.
They
continued to trade blasts. Each
time Silver Surfer was untouchable, as he realized the reality around them was
not real, realizing he was in control. But
Zilas Flantz was caught up in the illusion, no longer able to discern between
the truth and the fantasy created by his machine. The Silver Surfer blasted him once more.
The Power Cosmic now gnawing at his flesh, Zilas Flantz could no longer
withstand the incredible energy that was overpowering him.
A final strike of cosmic power struck the aged man, as he fell backwards
unconscious.
Silver
Surfer calmly walked over to the man, whose form had once again returned to its
true form. He grabbed him by the
throat and lifted him into the air, bringing him back into a dazed
consciousness.
Zilas Flantz was confused, stunned by defeat, “How is this possible? How could you defeat me… my reality?!”
“Reality
is what you make of it. My father
taught me that. Now he has once
again defeated you. His ideals won
my mother from you, his intellect was greater than yours, and now in death, his
teachings have defeated your final act of jealousy.
He taught me the power of the mind and spirit, and it is far more
superior to any machine. I managed
to win back control over the Power Cosmic and overcome your reality.
Now, I am in charge.”
“You are
right. Victory is yours.”
Zilas Flantz dropped his head in defeat, “Now finish me off.”
“No, I
am not going to let you get off so easily.”
Everything
around Zilas Flantz then began to transform.
He was surrounded by a world just like Zenn-La, absent of his evil touch
- a world where Jartran, Elmar, and Norrin led a perfect life, where drugs and
suicide were absent, and where the quest for knowledge reigned supreme.
A world with purpose, not tainted by one man’s greed and envy.
A world that Zilas Flantz would now be forced to live in while dwelling
on his spite for a family that proved worthier than him.
The End
We hope you enjoyed this storyline! If you enjoyed it, please let us know by e-mailing cpufeedback@yahoo.com or by filling out the form below.
Please leave your comments below:
If you want to be
contacted or have e-mail included.
Leave name if you would like it in our letter column.