CLARK KENT: Thank you.
LOIS LANE: For what?
CLARK KENT: For believing in me.
LOIS LANE: Didn't make much difference in the end.
CLARK KENT: It did to me. [Hears the sound of a sonicboom.] They're coming. You should leave now. Go, Lois.
[A small, tank size spaceship descends and stops meters from Clark. From it, an armored woman, FAORA-UL, emerges. The army men aim their weapons at her.]
FAORA-UL: Kal-El. I'm sub-commander Faora-Ul. On behalf of General Zod, I extend you his greetings. [She walks towards the general] Are you the ranking officer here?
GENERAL SWANWICK: I am.
FAORA-UL: General Zod would like this woman to accompany me.
Col. NATHAN HARDY: You asked for the alien. You didn't say anything about one of our own.
FAORA-UL: Shall I tell the General you're unwilling to comply?
Col. NATHAN HARDY: I don't care what you tell him.
LOIS LANE: It's all right. I'll go.
[All three reenter the ship as it leaves the atmosphere. Clark subtly hands Lois the small rod with the crest of the House of El.]
FAORA-UL: The atmospheric composition on our ship is not compatible with humans. You need to wear a breather beyond this point.
[The small ship enters the larger one from the news. Clark enters the room where the imprisoned Kryptonians and Zod are, waiting for him.]
GENERAL ZOD: Kal-El... You have no idea how long we've been searching for you.
CLARK KENT: I take it you're Zod?
FAORA-UL: General Zod. Our commander.
GENERAL ZOD: It's all right, Faora. we can forgive Kal any lapses in decorum. He's a stranger to our ways. This should be cause for celebration, not conflict.
CLARK KENT: I feel strange... Weak.
LOIS LANE: What's happening to him?
GENERAL ZOD: He's rejecting our ship's atmospherics.
LOIS LANE: Clark!
GENERAL ZOD: You've spent a lifetime adapting to Earth's ecology, but never adapted to ours.
LOIS LANE: Help him!
GENERAL ZOD: I can't. Whatever's happening has to run its course.
LOIS LANE: Clark. Help him... Help him!
[Clark slip into unconsciousness, where he is dressed like an Earthling while Zod wears a Kryptonian outfit similar to Clark's. All the while, flashes of the crew's journey in space are shown.]
GENERAL ZOD: Hello, Kal. Or do you prefer Clark? That's the name they gave you. Isn't it? I was Krypton's military leader, your father our foremost scientist. The only thing we agreed on was that Krypton was dying. In return for my efforts to protect our civilization and save our planet, I and my fellow officers were sentenced to the Phantom Zone. And then, the destruction of our world freed us. We were adrift, destined to float amongst the ruins of our planet, until we starved.
CLARK KENT: How did you find your way to Earth?
GENERAL ZOD: We managed to retrofit the phantom projector into a hyperdrive. Your father made a similar modification to the craft that brought you here. And so the instrument of our damnation became our salvation. We sought out the old colonial outposts looking for signs of life, but all we found was death. Cut off from Krypton, these outposts withered and died long ago. We salvaged what we could... armor, weapons, even a world engine. For 33 years we prepared, until finally we detected a distress beacon which you triggered when you accessed the ancient scout ship. You led us here, Kal, and now it's within your power to save what remains of your race. On Krypton the genetic template for every being yet to be born is encoded in the registry of citizens. Your father stole the registry's codex and stored it in the capsule that brought you here.
CLARK KENT: For what purpose?
GENERAL ZOD: So that Krypton can live again... on Earth.
[A ship similar to the large Kryptonian one descends from the skies and lets loose a blast that creates huge shockwaves. As they past by, Clark's clothes change to his Kryptonian suit.]
GENERAL ZOD: Where is the Codex, Kal?
CLARK KENT: If Krypton lives again... what happens to Earth?
GENERAL ZOD: The foundation has to be built on something. Even your father recognized that.
[Skulls and bones litter the ground as Clark sinks in them.]
CLARK KENT: No, Zod. I can't be a part of this.
GENERAL ZOD: Then what can you be a part of?
CLARK KENT: No! Zod! No! No!
[Clark wakes up from the illusion, tied down to a table and unable to break free.]
GENERAL ZOD: Your father acquitted himself with honor, Kal.
CLARK KENT: You killed him?
GENERAL ZOD: I did, and not a day goes by where it doesn't haunt me, but if I had to do it again, I would. I have a duty to my people and I will not allow anyone to prevent me from carrying it out.
