Chapter 43: Spatial Delivery

Lois, Alice, and the kids had kept up with Clark and Kara by watching CNN, so Lois knew the moment they left Wilmington. CNN didn’t know where they were heading, but she thought they’d better be heading her way if they knew what was good for them.

She’d waited far too long, through the fire in Manhattan and then the custody hearing. Enough was enough.

She paced the Tongs’ living room like a caged tiger. Though it felt like three hours, it was three minutes later when two figures wearing red and blue appeared suddenly in the backyard, a small whirlwind of leaves heralding their arrival.

Lois could barely wait for her husband to slide the door open before she was running towards it, her daughter running in to meet her. “Kara!” cried Lois.

“Mom! Mom!” cried Kara as her mother swept her up in her arms.

Lois clung tightly to her daughter, their cheeks pressed together. “Oh honey,” she whispered. “My baby.” Both of them were crying quietly, alternately sniffling and hiccuping. Lois kissed Kara’s cheek.

Clark slid the door closed behind him and gently laid one hand each on their backs. Kara’s friends, seeing him as Superman for the first time, marveled at the scene. They goggled when Clark spun back into his civilian clothes.

After a time Lois reluctantly released Kara, but left a hand on each shoulder. “Oh, sweetheart, let me look at you. You’ve grown! Clark, hasn’t she grown a bit?”

“I think so.”

“I’ve missed you so much! I’m so sorry you had to wait so long. Has school been OK? Have you been eating all right? I mean, not that you need to… Did that bas… jerk hurt you when he kidnapped you? Aside from the Kryptonite? Has your foster family been good to you? Oh, your uniform is adorable…”

Normally Kara would have been squirming in embarrassment at her mother fussing over her like this in front of friends, but this time she just basked in it. She savored her mother’s touch, the sound of her voice, the way she ran on and on when she was nervous.

Her mother finally ran down, and Kara said, “I’m fine, Mom. I’m just fine, now that you and Dad are here.” She put her left hand on top of her mother’s hand on her right shoulder, and squeezed. She and her mother couldn’t stop smiling at each other. They laughed and embraced again, crying a little.

After a while, Kara and her mother separated again. She looked over to her father and announced, “I’m going to change, too.” She blurred out of the room and back, now wearing the dress she’d put on for court.

“That’s right, you’re wearing glasses now,” exclaimed Lois.

“Do you mind?” asked Kara, anxious.

“No, of course not,” said Lois, moving her head from side to side to take in her daughter’s new look. “We would have been getting you some soon anyway. They’re cute frames. I like that dress, too.”

“The government people got it for me for court today.”

Lois turned to her husband suddenly. “Clark, why don’t we go home tonight?”

Kara and her friends held their breath.

Clark sighed. “I’m afraid we’ve got promises to keep and miles to go, as the poet said. There are some loose ends…”

“Like what?”

“The biggest is Kara’s foster family. They need help getting back on their feet.”

Lois frowned. “Can’t the government do that?”

“Honey, the Jordans risked everything to take care of our daughter. Not just feed her and clothe her, but give her love, guidance, and a home. Because of that their lives have been completely upended. The least we can do is help them pick up the pieces.”

Lois saw the worry in her daughter’s eyes, and sighed. “You’re right.” She thumped Clark on the shoulder. “How come you’re always right about things like this? Boy Scout…”

Clark shrugged modestly. “Eagle Scout, actually.”

“Ha ha. What else?”

“Well, I promised Kara and her friends a more detailed explanation of where she came from.”

• • •


It had all started with a phone call.

“Son?”

“Hey Dad, what’s up?” Clark held the cordless phone in one hand as he closed his laptop and set it aside with the other. He leaned back on the sofa, his free arm on the back, and watched Jordy play with his blocks on the living room floor.

“Do you think you can come out to the farm?”

Clark frowned. “Right now’s not the best time, Dad; I’m taking care of Jordy. The daycare’s closed today and Lois is out tracking down a story, so I’m working from home till she’s back.”

“It’s closed?”

“Just today — plumbing problem. They’ll be open again tomorrow.”

“Ah.” There was a pause. “Still, this is kind of important, I think.”

“What is it?”

“Well, I was out checking the back twenty… you know, where your treehouse is?”

“Yes?”

“There’s a spaceship there, Son. It looks just like yours. It’s floating right next to your ‘Fortress.’”

“Uhhh… OK. I’d better call Lois.”

• • •


“Wait a minute,” interrupted Kevin. “Your treehouse is the ‘Fortress of Solitude’?!”

“Yeah. I guess I used to brood a lot when I was young, about being different from all the other kids.” Clark smiled. “I liked the sound of it at the time.”

“But—”

“Can we get on with the story, Kevin?” asked Megan, rolling her eyes.

Kara sighed. No crystal palace in the Arctic.

• • •


Clark landed next to the tree holding his “Fortress”; his parents were there waiting. Sure enough, a tiny spaceship exactly like his own hovered right next to the entrance to the treehouse. Its navigation globe was glowing with a slow pulse, like breathing; his own globe inside the treehouse pulsed in synchrony.

As he approached, though, the glow went out, and the ship settled gently to the ground. A holographic message began to play, just as his father’s messages had played seven years ago.

They saw a couple dressed much like Jor-El and Lara. The man closely resembled Jor-El; so much so that at first Clark thought it was his own father. The woman had blonde hair and blue eyes.

“Greetings, Kal-El,” said the man. “I am Zor-El, your father’s brother; this is Alura In-Ze, my wife. We wish we could meet you in person, for we have a great favor to ask. Sadly, such a meeting cannot be. It is enough that this ship has been able to find its way to you.

“You will have seen Jor-El’s messages, and understood his efforts to create the prototype hyperlight drive that brought your ship to Earth. As his brother, I knew of your father’s scientific genius, and accepted his prediction of Krypton’s imminent destruction — unlike the Council of Elders, who have doomed all but a pitiful handful of our people.

“Like your parents, we recently delivered a child: our daughter, Kara. Like them, we wish to give our child a chance at life as the planet that bore her dies. I am neither a scientist nor a mathematician, and though Alura is both, interstellar travel is not her area of expertise. We are reliant entirely on Jor-El. He has only the one hyperlight drive prototype.”

At that point they were interrupted by a tremor, of the kind Clark remembered from his father’s messages. Zor-El and Alura clung to each other for the few seconds it lasted, then straightened themselves.

“There is hope, however: an earlier prototype. Its drawback is that it is far slower, and will take nearly thirty-four Earth years to propel Kara’s ship on the same journey that yours will complete in mere hours. We could not ask Jor-El to sacrifice you to save your cousin, and so we take this chance as it is offered to us.

“No adult, let alone an infant, could survive such a lengthy journey in such a small ship, and therefore we make yet another gamble. Alura has procured a cryogenic sleep system on the pretext of using it for experimentation on animals. It should preserve Kara in unconscious, ageless suspension throughout her long journey. It is our hope that this assemblage of prototype technology will function correctly, allowing her to reach you safely. We would never wager so with our daughter’s life were the alternative not certain death.

“You may wonder why your father said nothing of this in his messages to you. Given the uncertainties, should our efforts fail he did not wish to burden you with mourning a cousin you had never met. That you view this message shows that we were successful, at least in part: her ship has crossed the gulf between our worlds and found its way to you.

“And so to our request. By Kryptonian law, as Kara’s only surviving male relative you are now her guardian. However, we are aware that you have been raised in Earth’s culture, and so we will put it to you in those terms. Should our daughter make it safely to your adopted world, Nephew, we ask that you take her in and give her the life that we could not. Raise her as your own, and give her the love that we would have. Treasure her, as we wished to.”

Zor-El and Alura bowed their heads a moment in supplication. They looked up again, and Zor-El added, “This message is at an end. There are additional messages for Kara and yourself, which will play when she is older. Kal-El… Nephew… farewell.”

The message disappeared and the ship waited, silent.

They were silent themselves for some time, sobered by the reminder of Krypton’s tragedy. “Oh, Clark,” said Martha finally. “To think this poor child has been traveling all these years. And she’s your cousin. Your own flesh and blood!”

Something in Clark thrilled at the idea. He knew that the Kryptonian people had survived on New Krypton, but until now he’d never met a living member of his birth family. He prayed that Kara had survived the trip.

He tried to look through the skin of the ship but his vision could not penetrate it. “Mom,” he warned, “you might want to look away when I open it. If things didn’t go as well as they’d hoped…”

“It’s all right, honey,” replied his mother. “I’m made of sterner stuff than that.”

Clark nodded, and reached out to touch the ship. Instantly the cockpit lifted open, revealing a large ovoid whose surface was a perfect mirror.

Clark examined the object, if that’s what it was; he couldn’t tell if it was material or some kind of force field. He couldn’t see inside it, either. There was no obvious control for opening it.

Here goes nothing. He reached out to touch it; it was perfectly frictionless and his hand slid off it with no effort. “Huh.”

That’s when he noticed the handprint control in back of the ovoid, much like the one that had been on his own spaceship. He reached out and placed his hand in the imprint.

The silvery ovoid vanished, revealing a baby of about five months, with wispy blonde hair. The child’s skin was blueish and she did not move or breathe. They could feel the intense cold radiating from the tiny body.

His mother sniffled, and they bowed their heads in respect. Clark felt the sting of tears in his own eyes.

But just then a glow played over the form of the child; her skin took on a healthy pink color. She gasped, shuddered, and started to cry. As she came more awake, her crying escalated.

Clark and his parents stared in wonder; it felt like a miracle. “Oh thank goodness,” cried Martha.

Kara then took a deep breath and really started to wail, her eyes scrunched up and her face turning red.

Clark reached out and picked her up, marveling that her body temperature already felt perfectly normal. She was dressed in an odd-looking garment, which he guessed was the Kryptonian equivalent of a onesie. He put her over his shoulder and jogged her gently, murmuring soothing words in her ear. Her cries gradually lessened in volume.

“Well, Son,” asked Jonathan, “what are you going to do?”

“What can I do, Dad? She’s family. I could never abandon her. And even if she weren’t, she’s Kryptonian; we can’t take a chance on anyone else raising her.

“Besides, Lois and I were talking about having another child, and we were kinda hoping for a girl this time. We just thought… it would take a little longer than this.”

“Instant baby,” chuckled his father. “Just like with you.”

“I’m not sure how I’m going to break this to Lois. She wasn’t happy that I had to leave Jordy with her at the Planet. And we’re going to have to find a way to get paperwork for Kara, a birth certificate at least.”

“Young Doc Evans might be able to help, like his father helped us,” mused Jonathan. “We can come up with a story like the one we made up to explain you.”

“… which ought to give the town gossips plenty of fodder,” observed Martha.

Kara had calmed down and opened her blue-gray eyes. She’d turned from Clark’s shoulder and was watching the elder Kents silently, her eyes bright with curiosity.

“Oh Clark,” gushed his mother, “she’s absolutely adorable!”

Kara emitted a small belch, spitting up on Clark’s S shield. She smiled, and Clark’s parents burst out laughing, causing Kara to laugh in response.

“Welcome to fatherhood again, Son.”

Martha was shaking her head, smiling. “Come on into the house and let me wash that uniform for you before the stain sets. You can call Lois, too.”

• • •


“So that’s pretty much it,” said Clark. “My folks still had some diapers left over from when Jordy was a baby. Grandma drove into town that day to get you some baby formula and some clothes. Dr. Evans was able to help us through the process of making you legal.”

“What did you tell him, Dad?” Kara was still blushing slightly from the story.

“Our families have known each other for nearly sixty years now, and I grew up and went to school with him. So he trusted our word that you were a foundling with no paperwork, other than a message that you were related to me.

“We wanted him to just issue a new birth certificate so we wouldn’t have to go through adoption, but he was worried we might get into trouble with that. He said procedures had tightened since I was adopted and he wanted to do it by the book, if possible.

“Everyone in Smallville knows I’m adopted, so he said we should have a DNA test to make sure some stranger wasn’t scamming us into raising their child. We knew that wasn’t the case, but Kansas gives priority to blood relatives in adoptions so we wanted the test anyway. We got Dr. Klein at STAR Labs to compare a genetic sample from you to one he already had from me, and he sent a report to Dr. Evans.”

“Wait…” said Kara, “wouldn’t our DNA tell Uncle Bernie we’re, like… aliens?”

“He already knew, sweetheart. That’s why he’s our family doctor. We told him when Mom became pregnant with Jordy.” Clark grinned. “He was more shocked about that than he was about me being Superman. He hadn’t thought it was possible.”

“Oh…” Uncle Bernie knew?

“Anyway, his report surprised all of us: it said you and I were as close as half siblings. Since our fathers looked so much alike Dr. Klein says they must have been identical twins.

“So Dr. Evans thought you were my half sister by the same father, and that fit in pretty well with my own story. With that close a relationship he said we shouldn’t worry, and he was right. We got custody right away, and permission to take you home to Metropolis with us. The adoption went through fairly quickly.”

“Smallville: alien baby laundering capital of the world,” observed Lois.

“What did you think, Mom?” asked Kara anxiously.

Lois smiled. “I wasn’t too happy to start with. We both had to take parental leave. I had to turn over the story I was working on to someone else, leave your brother with Grandma Ellen, and fly to Smallville with your father. I might have said something about Krypton using Earth as a dumping ground for refugee children.” She reached out and tucked Kara’s hair behind an ear. “But the moment I laid eyes on you, I fell in love.”

“Awwwww,” cooed Bailey.

Lois laughed. “Jordy wasn’t happy either. It turned out he thought you were a replacement and we were going to return him to the hospital as a trade-in. Once he understood about siblings, he was fine.”

Clark added, “He wasn’t the only one who got a surprise…”

• • •


“What’s goin’ on here?” barked Perry. The throng of people in the bullpen parted before him.

In the center were Lois and Clark; Lois was holding a six-month-old baby girl in a red Christmas dress with a reindeer on the front. They turned to face their boss.

“Well, well, well,” said Perry, softening his tone. “Who do we have here?”

“This is Kara Zoe. Say Hi to Uncle Perry, Kara.”

Kara looked Perry over. “Ahhh lih. Bih. Ah!”

Perry grinned. “Well, she sure is a pretty little thing.” He looked over his staff. “Come on now, folks, visiting hours are over. This is the bullpen, not the day care center. We still have the evening edition to get out.”

Lois’s and Clark’s coworkers turned away, grumbling lightly, and Perry motioned the Kents to follow him into his office. Jimmy slipped in behind them, and closed the door.

Perry sat behind his desk. “So, where’s this young lady’s brother?”

“We left him with Lois’s parents so he could run around a bit.”

“Nice to have grandparents in the area.” He paused a moment. “Now Lois, I hope you’ll forgive me for sayin’ this, but I think I woulda noticed if you folks had been expectin’. What happened?”

Clark and Lois looked at each other, as Kara stuffed her fist in her mouth and looked around Perry’s office. “She was a foundling, left on my folks’ doorstep, with a note that she was related. We had some testing done, and it looks like she’s my half-sister.”

Clark scratched his head. “She’s the only blood relation I have, so we really wanted to keep her.” He reached out and caressed Kara’s cheek, and she smiled and gurgled. “We were talking about having another child anyway.”

Perry didn’t say anything at first. He and Jimmy exchanged glances and seemed to communicate something; Jimmy shrugged.

Perry turned back to the Kents. “Uh-huh. Is that the official story?”

“Excuse me?” replied Lois, offended.

“I’m not sure exactly what you mean, Perry,” added Clark.

Perry sighed. “Is she really a blood relation?”

“Of course she is!”

Perry ignored Lois. “Clark?”

“Yes, sir, she is. I’m… not quite sure what you’re getting at.”

Perry and Jimmy looked at each other again. “So… how did she get here?”

Lois and Clark exchanged glances. “‘Get here’?” echoed Lois.

“You know… from Krypton. Or New Krypton.”

Lois and Clark stood stock still. Kara offered, “Ehhh. Rrrr. Ba ba ba ba ba!”

Lois and Clark looked between Perry and Jimmy, and took in their expressions. “You…” Lois tried, but couldn’t figure out how to continue.

“I don’t know how many times I’ve had to say this, but I did not get to be editor of this newspaper because I can yodel. Jimmy and I have been workin’ with Clark for over seven years now. We’re not completely oblivious, you know.”

“Oh,” said Lois, as she and Clark sank into chairs.

“How long…” croaked Clark.

Jimmy rolled his eyes. “A couple of years now, CK.”

“At least,” added Perry.

• • •


Uncle Perry and Uncle Jimmy knew too? Kara wasn’t sure what to think about that; she wasn’t sure what to think about any of it. Had everyone known she was from Krypton before she did? Did it even matter?

It was so abstract and remote; she didn’t feel any attachment to her home planet or birth parents. That made her feel guilty and sad. They’d worked so hard to save her, and she didn’t even remember them. She felt a vague desire to apologize to someone.

“Mr. Kent,” asked Megan, “is Kara, like, a Kryptonian princess?”

“What gave you that idea?”

“There was a story on the news about how you were King of New Krypton or something.”

“First Lord,” corrected Kara.

“How did they hear about that here?” wondered Dad.

Kara rolled her eyes. “From me, Dad. We learned about the New Kryptonian invasion in fourth grade history. The government people wanted to know everything about Superman, so I told them about that. They used it to give me, uh, dip… something…”

“A diplomatic visa?” suggested Mom.

“That’s it. It kept the bad guys from taking me away from Emily.”

“Well, well,” said Mom. “I guess there’s intelligent life in Washington after all.”

Dad shot her a look before answering Megan’s question. “Krypton didn’t use titles like King or Princess. Who I really am is the son of a Kansas farmer, but I guess technically, I’m Lord Kal-El, and she’s Lady Kara Zor-El. Come to think of it, she would have been next in line to rule if I hadn’t abdicated to Lady Zara.” He shrugged. “None of that helps pay the mortgage, though.”

“Wow, Lady Kara,” said Megan, poking her, “you’re a royal!”

Kara closed her eyes. Being a celebrity and an alien was bad enough.

• • •