A Leap of Faith (Part 2)

Chapter 312 - Argo Council

Back on Argo, Kara and Lena have continued to tell Alura about their lives, with them having to spend a lot of time explaining that not everyone on Earth gets to do things like they do, including having a honeymoon in Hawaii, and flying their daughters out there a week later, or getting to fly to Paris for a few days to watch the women's world cup final, or living in a big mansion and everything. Kara and Lena have had to spend time explaining that Lena, and now technically both of them, are billionaires, meaning they have a significant amount of money. Really, there is no true comparison for someone on Argo, or even people on Krypton. Kryptonian society was never about someone gaining a large amount of collective wealth individually. Kryptonian society was more about status, and that came through contributions to society, not how much money you had. So, no one on Krypton would gather a large amount of wealth, because no one would ever earn that much, or need to earn that much, because everything went back into making Krypton a better place to live for everyone. Of course, as lovely as that sounds, it did end up being a failed system, as after all, for years Kryptonian leadership ignored the warnings from various scientists about how the planet was becoming destabilised, and could lead to their destruction. So perhaps, while Earth's society isn't perfect by any means, it might still be better than Krypton's. As on Krypton, their society allowed those with the highest social status to dictate what happened to the planet, and the policies, whereas on Earth, there are democracies, but the people in power can also be dictated by those people with money, and sometimes, although rarely, those people with money can force politicians to do the right thing. Either way, Kara certainly knows Lena is one of those rich people who would use her money to make the world a better place, and force politicians, and governments, to do the right thing.

"That is all very fascinating, and interesting." Alura soon says, after Kara and Lena finish explaining more about their lives, and how Earth works to Kara's birth mother.

"Yes." Lena nods, "But I have to know, Alura, how do things work here on Argo? What is your population size? How is society different than Krypton, which Kara has spent time telling me about. And how have you managed to be sustainable out here on your own?"

"Many questions." Alura says, with a smile.

"Sorry." Lena says, realising she may have just overloaded Alura with questions.

"No, don't apologise. Never apologise for having questions. Asking questions is how we learn, and grow as.... I guess in this case..... Kryptonians." Alura says.

Kara simply smiles at Alura saying that, remembering her mother saying something similar to her, when she was a child, so finding it nice that she gets to witness her say it to Lena now.

"But, in regards to answering your questions, Argo has a population of roughly 25,000 people, and growing. A lot of things are different here, than on Krypton, as really the survival of Argo is about us being able to sustain ourselves, both in regards to power, raw materials, water, and most importantly, food. This has meant that for the first few years here on Argo, after Krypton exploded, a lot of work was do just making sure we had a sustainable power and food source, before making things more comfortable. During this time Argo had a population of about 30,000 people. During those first few years, things were tough, both due to lack of adequate housing, a rationing of food and water for a while, and the emotional toll of what happened on Krypton. Argo already had a large elderly population before it exploded, and of the elderly people who survived, many of them died within the first few years on Argo, for various reasons. There, of course, were also people who, due to the loss they had suffered, and what they had experienced, took their own lives too. On top of that, for the first 5 years after Krypton exploded, there was an illness that many people suffered, making us extremely weak. Our veins were turning green, and it felt like you were burning from the inside." Alura explains.