Chapter 48: The Devil You Know
Somehow, though they’d been inside the bubble a moment ago they were now outside it, and the world they’d left was inside instead. Kara got one last glimpse of her friends as the bubble shrank rapidly, until it was just one of a multitude of points of light that surrounded them. They were arrayed in some kind of regular, crystalline structure that stretched as far as the eye could see. She couldn’t figure it out: it seemed to change as she looked at it. It was beautiful, but she wasn’t in a mood to appreciate it.
Her heart sank as she realized there were so many she couldn’t even pick out the one they’d just left. Her friends were already lost in a single grain in an infinity of sand. Her eyes started to tear up all over again.
Her attention was diverted when the time machine began to make its way… through? past? along? the structure of light, lurching at random intervals. Kara and her father were unaffected, but her mother and the Jordan sisters looked ill.
She looked up at her father but he was focused on the controls, watching as numbers on a display changed. One was counting up and the other down; both were headed towards zero.
It took about twenty minutes of moving through whatever it was, but the machine finally came to a halt, or at least it ceased to feel like it was moving. Her father touched a control, and a light began to blink on the console; the machine jostled a tiny bit, as if making a fine adjustment.
Suddenly, one of the points around them began to grow rapidly, becoming a bubble. Kara glimpsed an unfamiliar room inside it, just before the bubble did the crazy inside-out thing it had before.
• • •
“I see… You’re sure they’re gone? … Yes. Thanks.”
Alone in his private office, President Roger Hunter hung up the phone, leaned back in his desk chair, and sighed.
• • •
“That is despicable.”
“Why thank you, Herb,” replied Tempus. “Coming from you that means a lot. A little involved, I admit, but very final. Lois and Clark just took a one-way trip to oblivion.”
Just then, something in Tempus’s pocket began to beep, and a similar beeping noise grew from behind the wall hiding the secret room.
Tempus frowned and pulled a small device from his pocket; a light on it flashed in time with the beeping. “Or not,” he admitted.
Wells stood up and raised his gun. “Well, well, Tempus. It seems as if your plan has failed.” He moved to the wall and pressed the hidden control that opened it. Tempus joined him, and they watched a tiny dot appear in the room, rapidly growing to a large bubble. The bubble deformed into the shape of the time machine that slid into it a moment later, coming from an impossible-seeming direction.
The glow faded, and Wells noted that Lois and Clark had brought not only their daughter, but a woman and girl he didn’t know. All thoughts of the strangers vanished when Clark and Kara slumped, Kara crying out in pain. Lois was pinned between the two of them, unable to move.
Wells gasped and turned to face Tempus, only to find him holding a small chunk of Kryptonite and Wells’s own gun. “Herb, didn’t they teach you to be aware of where your weapon is at all times? It’s Gun Safety 101. Of course I never took Gun Safety 101 either, so don’t feel too bad.”
He sighed. “I don’t know how they beat this but I suppose I can finish them off the old-fashioned way. Not as much fun but hey,” he shrugged, “sometimes you have to accept second best.”
“Is that… Kryptonite?” asked the woman in the back of the time machine.
“Oh, is this the support group for ‘Oblivious Women Anonymous’? I thought I came to the wrong room,” deadpanned Tempus. “
Duh! Of
course it’s Kryptonite! What did you think it was, a Christmas decoration?” He grinned. “In fact, why don’t you hold it for me while I take care of some unfinished business?” He tossed it to the girl, who caught it easily. Kara’s cries increased in volume, and Clark moaned in pain from the proximity.
Tempus motioned Wells with the gun. “Over there with them, Herb.” Wells reluctantly moved to the time machine and stood next to Kara.
“Caitlin!” warned the woman. “It’s radioactive!”
Tempus rolled his eyes. “It can’t hurt
you. It’s completely harmless to humans. And—”
He did not get a chance to finish, as Caitlin hurled the Kryptonite with deadly accuracy. It bounced off his head and he dropped like a sack of potatoes. Wells moved quickly to retrieve the gun.
Lois managed a smirk. “God, I love irony.” The corners of Clark’s mouth might have curled up slightly through his grimace.
• • •
“…water.”
The awful pain vanished but Kara felt too tired to move. She heard a man say, “If I may, my dear, I shall carry young Miss Kara so that you may assist Clark.” She felt arms lift and carry her, and she opened her eyes to see a man dressed in old-fashioned clothing lay her on the sofa in the living room. He smiled at her and moved away.
Kara looked around in wonder at the familiar yet strange surroundings. She was home, but it had been so long… it seemed unreal.
Mom was helping Dad out of the room Kara hadn’t known was there, but he looked like he was feeling better and stood straight on his own. “I’m fine now,” he said. “How’s Kara?”
Mom came over to sit beside her and brushed her hair back gently. “How are you feeling, sweetheart?”
Kara sat up on her own. “I think I’m OK now, but I don’t have my powers.” She frowned; the world seemed… dead, somehow, without her enhanced senses.
“The worse the Kryptonite exposure, the longer it takes them to come back,” said Dad, “but the time gets shorter with more exposures.” He winced. “My hearing just kicked in, so I think I’m back.”
“What happened? Where’s Emily and Caitlin?”
Mom put an arm around her. “Tempus was here when we got back, and he had Kryptonite. Caitlin went to get you some water, and Emily is checking on Tempus, since Caitlin beaned him with the Kryptonite.”
“Where are the glasses?” came Caitlin’s voice from the kitchen.
“The cabinet to the right of the sink,” Dad called back.
Kara looked around anxiously. “Where’d the Kryptonite go?”
“It’s in a lead box in our secret room now, thanks to Mr. Wells.”
Kara relaxed, and thought it was awesome that their house had a secret room. It wasn’t a crystal palace in the Arctic, but at least it was
something.
Her eyes strayed to the man who’d carried her to the sofa. “Are you Mr. Wells?”
The man made a small bow. “H. G. Wells at your service, young lady. Your parents and I have had several adventures together.” Kara smiled at him.
Caitlin arrived just then with the water, which Kara received gratefully. She drank some and felt better.
Emily rose from the floor, where she’d been kneeling next to Tempus. He was curled up in a ball clutching his head. “H. G. Wells? Aren’t you… um…”
“Dead?” He smiled. “Only some of the time. One of the advantages of time travel. But forgive me; we haven’t been introduced. I am H. G. Wells, as you’ve heard.”
“Emily Jordan, and this is my stepsister Caitlin Jordan.”
Mr. Wells looked surprised. “Emily and Caitlin
Jordan, you say? And you came from that other world, not this one?”
“Um, yes?” said Emily. “You sound like you know who we are…”
Mr. Wells fumbled with his tie. “Forgive me, Dr. Jordan, I was merely surprised that Mr. and Mrs. Kent brought you here. May I ask why?”
Emily looked to Kara’s dad, unsure.
“Kara was in that other world for nine weeks and Emily was her foster mother. For some reason Kara got all her powers there, and she started helping people. She was exposed, like that other Clark we know. The public attention upended Emily and Caitlin’s lives, so they wanted to try coming here and starting over.”
“I see,” said Mr. Wells, seeming distracted. He shook himself. “How is Tempus?”
“He’s just stunned. I don’t think he has a concussion, though he should be watched for twenty-four hours, and he’ll have quite an egg,” replied Emily. “He should be more alert in a few minutes. It would be a kindness to get him a painkiller. Acetaminophen or ibuprofen will do.” Mom grumbled but headed for the kitchen.
Dad picked Tempus up and placed him in one of the armchairs, then blurred into the secret room and back; he bound Tempus’s hands with plastic ties. “That ought to keep him out of our hair.” He started going through Tempus’s pockets.
Kara was distracted by a plaintive
meow from the stairs. Her face lit up and she jumped up from the couch, her energy restored. “Streaky!” she cried, and ran to the cat, kneeling and hugging him; he purred with pleasure. “Oh, I missed you too!”
It finally sank in: she was home. She was really, really home. She smiled through her tears.
• • •
“So let me get this straight — I was supposed to
explode?” asked Dad.
“All the energy you absorb from the sun should have been released instantly. You should have gone up like an H-bomb.” Tempus scowled, then winced and adjusted the ice bag on his head. “I don’t know what went wrong. It worked fine with the rats!”
“‘Rats’?” echoed Mom.
“I caught the rat that Luthor groupie gave superpowers, and used it to experiment on ways to get rid of you two.”
“Do you mean Gretchen Kelly? That was nearly twenty years ago!”
Tempus rolled his eyes then winced again. “Hello?
Time machine?”
Mom frowned. “Oh, right. How did you catch a super-powered rat?”
“It wasn’t easy! And then I went and found more realities where that happened and caught the parallel rats.”
Mom massaged her temples. “My head is starting to hurt. Again.”
Tempus gave her a dirty look. “I searched everywhere for a reality where their powers wouldn’t work; I was going to strand you all there. But then I found that one, where the rats would actually
explode. The laws of physics there weren’t compatible with your powers at
all.” His eyes lit up with a manic gleam. “It was
glorious! I knew I had to get you to go there — so you could go out with a bang!” He laughed, then winced in pain.
“So Kara was probably OK because she’d been exposed to Kryptonite,” guessed Mom. “But how did you not blow yourself up testing with the rats?”
“I’m not going to tell you
everything,” snapped Tempus. “I still can’t figure out why Supermoron here didn’t blow up like he was supposed to.”
Kara glared at him and wished
he’d blow up. Just… not in the house. Eww.
Dad shook his head. “You must have got
something wrong, because after a couple of days my powers worked just fine there. Kara’s did, too.”
“That shouldn’t be possible! You shouldn’t be able to
change the laws of physics!” Tempus scowled again. “This is what I get for sleeping through class in high school.”
Mr. Wells looked thoughtful. “Now there is an interesting notion. I wonder if the capabilities of Kryptonian organelles extend as far as changing the properties of subspace…”
“Mr. Wells,” interrupted Mom, “let’s not share everything.”
Mr. Wells coughed and nodded.
“Oh come on! I told you
my plans,” groused Tempus.
“
We’re not the ones trying to kill
you,” retorted Mom.
“You’re sending me back to Utopia — it’s the same thing!”
“Speaking of which,” said Mr. Wells, “it’s time we were going, Tempus.” He stood, and picked up the gadget Dad had pulled from Tempus’s pocket.
“Mr. Wells?” asked Kara diffidently.
“Yes?”
“Do you think you’ll be able to find a way for me to talk to my friends?”
Mr. Wells’s face fell. “I don’t know, my dear child, but I shall look for one. And for a way to help that world, which sounds as if it desperately needs it.” He brightened. “Thanks to Tempus, I now know there are many more realities to explore; perhaps I will find solutions in one of them.”
“You’re not welcome,” sulked Tempus.
Mr. Wells turned to Dad. “The beacon you left in that world is well hidden?”
Dad grinned. “Very well hidden. He doesn’t know it, but I got the idea from Kara’s friend Kevin.”
Mr. Wells nodded thoughtfully. “Come along, Tempus. I’m sure the Peacekeepers would like a word with you.” He inclined his head. “Farewell to all of you.”
“Thank you, Mr. Wells, for helping us get Kara home safely,” said Dad.
“Yes, thank you,” added Kara.
“As always, it was my pleasure. Even if we played into Tempus’s plans, it all worked out well in the end.”
“Damn rats,” muttered Tempus.
Kara’s stomach rumbled just then, and she blushed.
Dad smiled. “Are you hungry, sweetheart?”
She nodded. “Yeah.”
“I’m hungry too,” admitted Caitlin. “Hey, is this a pizza? How old is it?” She wrinkled her nose. “It hasn’t been here, like, a week, has it?”
“It’s quite fresh,” said Mr. Wells as he pressed a button on the gadget. “It may want heating up, however.”
“Hey, wait a minute!” protested Tempus. “That’s
my pizza!”
“Not anymore,” observed Mom as she opened the box. “Oh, only one slice is gone. There’s enough for all of us.”
“That’s
my pizza!” complained Tempus one last time, as he and Mr. Wells disappeared in a flash of light.
“Let me try heating it up!” said Kara. She lowered her glasses and tried to activate her heat vision.
Nothing happened.
She drooped, and Mom wrapped her in a hug. “Give it a day or two, sweetie. This is only the second time you’ve been exposed to Kryptonite.”
“Will I get
all my powers back? Will I be able to fly?” Kara held her breath.
Please let me be able to fly…
“We don’t know, sweetheart,” admitted Dad. “We’ll have to see when you can fly again. If you did it there, I’m sure you’ll be able to do it here, but you may have to wait till you’re older, like Jordy.”
“Awwww…”
He reached over and ruffled her hair. “I promise I’ll take you flying until you can do it on your own, OK?” He smiled. “Now, how about some pizza?”
“OK,” agreed Kara, subdued.
Dad lowered his glasses, and a moment later the pizza was steaming slightly. “Go ahead, everyone, but be careful: it’s hot.” Kara reached for a slice.
Dad popped the top off some of the beers with his thumb, blew on them to ice them, then handed them out to Mom and, after she nodded, Emily. He kept one for himself.
“Handy, isn’t he?” observed Mom.
Dad grinned. “We run a full-service establishment.”
“Can I have some beer, Em?” asked Caitlin hopefully, as she took her own slice.
“Nice try,” said Emily. “Ask again in eight years.” Caitlin sighed.
“There’s soda in the fridge,” offered Mom, grabbing a slice.
Emily watched Dad take a slice and asked, “You like pepperoni, Clark?”
Dad nodded, his mouth full of pizza. He looked at her quizzically.
“I was just curious.”
“Speaking of which,” said Mom, “where
did you leave the beacon, honey?”
• • •
Quttinirpaaq National Park lies on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, on Ellesmere Island in the northernmost part of Canada.
Deep in the heart of one of the park’s mountains was a cavern, newly hewn from the living rock. Within the cavern sat a small box, its metatemporal transmissions and power source invisible to Twenty-first Century technology. The box had a small light that blinked at regular intervals.
• • •
