A sequel to
A Town Called Smallville----------------------------------------------------------
"I love the morning. Anything's possible in the morning," Clark said as he and Lois waited for their morning coffee at the coffee bar a block from the Daily Planet.
"I hope so. Because, as of this moment, we don't even have the tiniest fragment of something that might someday, with a lot of work, resemble a story," Lois said.
"We've still got the clean-up at the LexCorp nuclear plant and following up on Doctor Miller's pheromone perfume attack."
"But that's old news and you know Perry. You're only as good as today."
The man at the coffee bar handed them their cups. To Lois: "Short non-fat mocha, decaf, no foam, no sugar, no whipped." To Clark: "Grande latte, full caf, whole milk, three sugars."
"Still on that health food kick, I see," Lois commented, eyeing the cup in his hand.
"Life's short, Lois. Order what you want."
"Life is long, Clark. And you are what you eat," she said. She stopped, then: "Most of us, anyway. Did your parents feed you sugar like that when you were little?"
"Not hardly," Clark admitted. "So I'm making up for lost opportunities."
She just stared at him.
"Are you still mad at me for not telling you that Henry Deacon was an old family friend?" Clark asked.
"No… Yes… Sort of," Lois said. "I'm more mad that you won't agree to get us an interview with him. I mean, he's been tasked with rebuilding the entire EPRAD program and you won't use your influence to get us an exclusive on that."
The sky started growing dark as
something passed in front of the sun.
"Solar eclipse?" Lois speculated.
"They always announce them," Clark said as the sky turned dark and stars started to appear. "Besides, that's not the Moon."
A car horns sounded as drivers turned on their head lights and realized the cars in front of them had slammed on their brakes.
One car apparently missed a turn and was heading toward them. Clark grabbed Lois and pulled her to safety while using super-breath to slow the car and keep it from hitting a lamppost. Then the something moved away from the sun and daylight reappeared.
"What just happened?"
"I don't know, but I bet I know who does… and you're going to call him and get us an interview."
-o-o-o-
"Clark," Perry yelled as they walked into the newsroom. "Doctor Deacon from EPRAD wants to see you pronto. And just so you remember, you have a cell phone so I don't have to be your answering service."
Lois grabbed Clark's arm to guide him back to the elevators.
"He mentioned Clark specifically," Perry added.
"It's okay, Perry," Lois said. "I've met him."
"And Planet Earth survived," Clark cheerfully added.
-o-o-o-
If Doctor Henry Deacon was surprised to see Lois with Clark when his secretary ushered them in, he didn't show it.
He motioned for them to take seats.
"I'm glad you could make it," Deacon began. "Your Mom wanted me to remind you that Bernie Klein is over at S.T.A.R. Labs now."
"I've talked to him," Clark assured him. "Doc Bernie is anxious to run tests on Superman's abilities. But at least he'll ask before he does anything, unlike the people who ran the last batch of tests."
"I can assure you, it wasn't Global Dynamics, or anybody from Area 51. They haven't quite recovered from being told that Superman is real and that there really are extra-terrestrials. And those tests were too public and too…"
"Oblivious to public safety?" Clark suggested.
"I was going to say 'subtle'," Deacon corrected, "for it to have been a DOD project."
"No, I know who it was behind it and it wasn't DOD or GD."
"Why didn't you say anything?" Lois asked.
"Because it can't be proven, not to hold up in court, at least," Clark said.
"I have a question," Lois said. "What did you people do to me that I can't communicate to anybody but Clark about what happened in Smallville? I mean, I signed the blasted non-disclosure."
"A strong post-hypnotic suggestion," Deacon said. "You can talk about it to anyone you know for a fact knows about the Truman towns."
"But I can't even write about it in my journal!"
"Journals can be stolen, computers can be hacked," Deacon said reasonably. "Be thankful you didn't get a dose of retro-grade amnesia on top of the post-hypnotic suggestion."
"So, why did you ask me to come over here?" Clark asked before Lois exploded. "Does it have to do with the eclipse this morning?"
"Yes."
"Is this going to be on the record?" Lois asked, sounding more than a little disgruntled as she pulled out her notepad.
"Some of it…" Deacon began. "Doctor Daitch, head of astrophysics for EPRAD, will be holding a press conference in…" he checked his watch, "forty-five minutes, but I'll give you a summary of what he's going to cover. The eclipse this morning was caused by an Earth orbit crossing asteroid. Now, there are thousands of objects that cross Earth's orbit in their orbits around the Sun. This one crossed in front of Earth about two weeks ago on a trajectory that brought it between the Earth and the Sun today."
"Doesn't NASA usually announce it when these things happen?" Clark asked. "I mean, most of them are known and plotted, aren't they?"
"A lot of them are. We try to keep an eye on the ones that are considered potentially hazardous," Deacon said. "But space is a big place and we still get surprised. The problem here, and this will not be in Daitch's press release, is that we think it was one piece of a much larger asteroid that until last year, was in a known Earth crossing orbit. If we're right, another part, a smaller piece, is predicted to cross Earth's orbit in something more than four days, and it will collide with Earth."
"What broke the asteroid apart and changed its orbit?" Lois asked. "Do you know?"
"Various groups have been working on the problem of dealing with extinction level bodies that pose a threat to this planet. We think one of them tested a 'solution' about a year ago. The device they were testing broke the asteroid apart and shifted its orbit. If it had been on a collision course with Earth it would have missed the planet by a good margin."
"But since the asteroid wasn't on a collision course at the time, the device pushed it into a collision course," Clark completed for him.
"The device worked once, why can't they use it again?" Lois asked.
"By the time it was realized what had happened and the new orbit was plotted, the pieces had moved too close for the device to be effective. We may be able to shift the most hazardous piece, but we're more likely to break it into smaller pieces, and most of those will hit Earth."
Deacon handed Lois a sheaf of papers with plotted orbits and calculations. "The one that caused the eclipse we're calling 'Nightfall'. It was big. Bigger than the one that caused the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction. Its companion is about a quarter of the size of the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs. It may not devastate the Earth as completely as that one did, but it will do incalculable damage."
"Do you think Superman can help?" Clark asked.
"I'm hoping Superman can help," Deacon said. "We figure he has a better chance than we do to divert it without breaking it apart. Clark… we don’t know the limit to Superman's abilities. We don't know how long he can function in space, how fast he can move in a vacuum. Heck, we don't know how he can fly like he does, except that he does. If we can figure out how he does it, it would revolutionize air and space travel. Can you imagine, launching satellites without using rocket engines? Without explosive fuel? We could colonize the Moon, mine the asteroid belt…"
"Maybe you could see your way to explaining all this in an interview?" Lois asked.
"Tell you what, if we're still here in five days time, I'll sit down and talk with you," Deacon promised. "But first, Doctor Daitch is going to need to talk to Superman. The sooner the better."
-o-o-o-
Superman walked into the EPRAD control center. It was a large room with rows of computer stations. A large screen dominated one end of the room. Daitch, sat at one of the stations peering at figures on a smaller monitor on the desk. He looked stressed, shirt rumpled, tie askew.
"You wanted to see me, Doctor Daitch?" Superman said.
Daitch started then relaxed. "Doctor Deacon was able to find a way to reach you…"
"Fascinating what kind of surprises the universe can turn up, isn’t it?" Superman said, trying to set Daitch at ease. "Doctor Deacon told me about Nightfall's companion."
Daitch made a few quick strokes on his keyboard. A digital countdown came up the big screen, complete with the EPRAD space logo. The clock read the hours, minutes and seconds as they counted down: 108:54:23 Estimated Time to Impact
"If our calculations are correct, in about four and a half days, it's going to hit the Earth," Daitch said. "The sky, literally, is falling."
Superman frowned as he heard voices just outside the room.
"I know this is a lot to get used to..." Daitch said, obviously misinterpreting Superman's expression.
"No. It's not that. But we're not alone," Superman said. "Might as well come out, gentlemen. I know you're there," he called out.
The door opened and a man in the uniform of an Air Force general walked in. He was followed by another man who Superman recognized: Secretary of State John Cosgrove.
"Superman, my apologies. We felt you should hear the news from Doctor Daitch before we were introduced," The general said, extending his hand. "I'm General Robert Zeitlin. This is Secretary John Cosgrove."
"You can't keep this a secret," Superman said once introductions were made.
"The President will tell the public, but he wants to avoid panic, too. He simply wants to get you on board before making an announcement," Cosgrove said.
"I take it this means there's general agreement with the impact calculations?"
"The only disagreement is in the predicted amount of damage it will do when it hits," Zeitlin said. "If you spoken with Deacon, then you know there is a device that may be able to shift it a little, but with major risks."
"We need another option. The country needs your help, Superman. So does the world," Cosgrove added.
"Of course. But you're asking me to fly however many million miles into space to stop a piece of rock the size of Midtown that's travelling faster than any spacecraft humans ever made."
"Can you?" Cosgrove asked.
"I don't know," Superman admitted. "But I guess we're about to find out what my limits really are."
-o-o-o-
"Okay, people," Perry was yelling at the newsroom staff when Lois walked in. "This is a big one. I got us an extra half-hour before we go to press. Let's make the most of it. Now, Cat, where were you when the lights went out this morning?"
"In bed," Cat Grant, the Planet's society columnist, grumbled.
"What a surprise," Lois commented, heading to her desk.
"I'm talking side-bar here, ladies. Cat, I want you to call all those big names in that Rolodex you keep locked up in your desk and get me some human interest. If you need help, ask Applegate."
"I work alone," Cat stated, unlocking her desk to retrieve her Rolodex.
Lois quickly typed up her story on the eclipse based on Deacon's notes. Perry went over her copy without comment. Finally he looked at her. "Is this for real?"
"I'm waiting for confirmation from NASA," Lois said. "But yeah, it's for real."
"The president's making an emergency announcement," someone yelled. The television monitors all showed the same scene: a harried looking president looking out at them from the oval office.
"My fellow citizens… of this world. I have grave news. I'm sure everyone is aware that an object crossed between the Earth and the Sun this morning causing an unexpected eclipse seen in parts of North America. What you have not been made aware of is that the object has a companion in its orbit, and that companion, which has been named 'Shiva', is expected to collide with the Earth in approximately 103 hours, that's a little more than four days time, unless we find a way to divert this asteroid from its course. To that end, Superman has been contacted and has agreed to try to stop this asteroid…"
-o-o-o-
The attempt was planned for the next morning. The EPRAD count-down clock read 83:37:21 when Superman arrived at the EPRAD launch center for his final briefing. The media was being kept at a 'safe' distance but Superman knew there were telephoto lenses and shotgun mikes recording everything they could. Lois had given Clark her send off earlier.
"It will work because it has to," Clark had said. "I'll be back. We can go flying."
"I hope so," she had said before kissing him. The memory of her kiss lingered on his lips.
Deacon cleared his throat, catching Superman's attention. He handed Superman a helmet and thin spacesuit. "LexLabs sent some equipment for you, but we're going with the equipment GD sent. There are too many unknowns and we want you to have better protection than just your native invulnerability. The suit is lined with a new projectile resistant fabric and is also radiation resistant."
"What about extra oxygen?" Superman asked. "I can only hold my breath for 20 minutes or so. I mean, getting out there fast shouldn't be problem. I don't see oxygen tanks."
"The helmet has a built-in rebreather. We don't know what your oxygen needs will be but there are sensors build into the suit to measure everything we could think of," Deacon told him. "The helmet faceplate opens so you can use your special senses and heat vision if you decide to use that option."
"The radio will be your communications link with ground control," Zeitlin said, coming up to them. "We'll be able to hear everything you say, and we'll be able to uplink our response through the satellite. We can also project information into the heads-up display in the helmet."
Superman took off his cape and put on the suit and helmet. He tested the communications. It worked fine – on Earth.
"Superman, I want to offer you the tactical nuclear option one more time. You'd simply be acting as our delivery system," Zeitlin said.
"'Boom' is not an option here, Bob," Deacon said. "You don't stop a runaway semi with artillery."
"Henry, runaway semis don't usually have the capacity for destroying the planet," Zeitlin responded.
"Not usually, no," Deacon agreed. He turned back to Superman. "Better get going… Good luck. We'll all be praying for you."
"Thanks," Superman said. "I'll do my best."
Superman waved to the crowd and took off, gaining speed as the atmosphere thinned – he didn’t want to damage the spacesuit.
-o-o-o-
The Daily Planet newsroom was preternaturally quiet as everyone watched the television monitors. A graphic covered the screen: "SUPERMAN FOR THE EARTH." Behind the text there was an artist's rendering of Superman approaching the asteroid.
"Continuing our special LNN Report: Superman For the Earth," a LNN announcer was saying. "…And now, here is Frank Madison at EPRAD Command and Control.
Madison came on the screen. Behind him was the EPRAD control room and its big screen showing what Lois assumed were real-time projections of Superman's journey to the asteroid. Estimates were that he was moving at about 10% of the speed of light. But then, the object was nearly 4 million kilometers out. It was hard to even fathom numbers like that.
"Several hours ago, Superman said his final goodbyes to the crowd," Madison was saying… again. "He was described as calm, but determined. Witnesses say his last words were to Doctor Henry Deacon of EPRAD and General Robert Zeitlin of the Joint Chiefs - I'm quoting now: "I'll do my best." And with that he took off, gaining speed as he rose into the sky. And this time the entire world was watching."
The EPRAD time clock read 79:56:17 and counting...
Madison touched his earpiece, listening to something. Then: "I'm being told we have a transmission from Superman. Let's take that 'live' feed, direct from mission control."
On the screen, the "Superman for the Earth" logo appeared. Underneath it was the chyron: "Voice of SUPERMAN."
"I can see it now. In fact, it's hard to see anything else. It's immense," Superman's voice came over the speakers.
"Roger, Superman," someone from Mission Control said. Lois thought it sounded like Doctor Deacon. "We copy you on the ground. How does it compare with our previous analyses?"
"I can confirm the ice pockets," Superman said. "What's the current speed?"
"13,411.20 meters per second and increasing."
"So I need to shift it to one side by at least 1 degree or slow it by at least 15 meters per second so it will miss Earth by a safe margin," Superman reasoned aloud.
"That agrees with our calculations," Mission Control agreed.
"I know what I have to do," Superman said.
"Superman, you're cleared for action on your discretion," Mission Control said. "And there's a lot of people here who want you to know you're the best friend Earth's ever had."
"Thanks. Well, here I go."
Silence. Then from Mission Control: "It appears to be slowing and shifting course. I think he's done it people… Wait…" Someone swore into their mike. "We're picking up a second body… Superman? Superman!"
Nothing. Then: "This is EPRAD control. We appear to have lost communications with Superman. Preliminary calculations indicate he was successful in diverting the larger asteroid away from Earth. We are still running projections on the second body that had been hidden from our instruments."
"His microphone went out. He's fine. He's got to be," Lois repeated to herself.
"We're professionals," Perry said, breaking through the newsroom's shock. "We have a job to do. Let's get back to doing it."
-o-o-o-
EPRAD held a news conference late in the afternoon. "We have confirmed that, thanks to the efforts of Superman, the larger of the two asteroid pieces, Shiva', will miss the Earth by a very comfortable margin," Doctor Daitch told everyone. "However, the trajectory of the second one brings it perilously close to Earth approximately 60 hours from now. This second body had been hidden from our instruments so there was no way for Superman to have known about it."
"Are you looking for Superman?" someone asked. "Is there any evidence he made it back to Earth?"
"We are hoping that the loss of communications was due to an equipment failure and that he'll check in with us soon," Daitch said.
"What will the effects be if the second one hits?" someone else asked.
"We will be meeting with the Federal Emergency Management Team very shortly to discuss our assessment of the danger from the second body."
Lois spotted Doctor Deacon standing to one side of the EPRAD group. He beckoned her closer. "Off the record," he began.
"Of course," Lois said with a grimace.
"We're tracking a small object approaching Earth. It's about the same mass as Superman," Deacon said. "It's traveling at very rate of high speed but is slowing. No natural object should do that. Based on the rate of deceleration, it should impact in about two hours. And it will impact in or near Metropolis."
"Do you really think there was an equipment failure?" Lois asked.
"It's possible. But we know so little about his abilities," Deacon admitted. "We have data on what his abilities are, at least the ones he knows about, but we don't know how they work, what their limits are. What his limits are. But I figure if he makes it back here, you and the police are our best bets to find him."
"What makes you say that?"
"If he's able, he'll try to find you. If he isn't, I'm hoping someone will find him."
-o-o-o-
The impact time for the Superman-sized object came and went. EPRAD didn't make an announcement that Superman had been found and Deacon didn't call. Finally, Lois simply went home.
She didn't sleep much. It didn't help that Lex Luthor had left multiple messages on her home phone answering machine. In the last message he sounded annoyed that she hadn't returned his calls. She simply shook her head at the last message – she was supposed to intuit that he'd left messages for her, even though he knew she was covering a crisis and the messages weren't to her cell phone or the office.
The next morning was cold and cloudy and the weather guessers were predicting snow by evening.
There was a message waiting for her when she arrived in the newsroom – at least this one was from Inspector Henderson and not Lex Luthor.
An officer directed her to the interrogation area where Henderson was waiting.
"Henderson, this better be good," she warned. Then she noticed Clark inside the interrogation room with a female officer. "Thank God you found him… What's he doing here?" She didn't ask about Clark's odd clothes – jeans that were too large, shirt that barely buttoned across his chest, worn sneakers that obviously didn't belong to him, glasses that also didn't belong to him.
"He was picked up at the Fifth Street Mission this morning," Henderson said. "Apparently he spent the night there without anybody noticing. Then somebody realized he might be in need of more help than they could give and called it in. The officers recognized him, called me and I called you. You know EPRAD has, quite unofficially, asked the MPD and the local hospitals to keep an eye out for someone matching his description. I don't figure they're looking for Clark." Henderson knocked on the window.
The woman came out of the room. "Doctor Jerri McCorkle. Lois Lane," he introduced the women. "Doc's our department shrink."
"What's wrong?"
"He doesn't remember a thing. His name, where he works, me, you," Henderson said.
"Amnesia?"
McCorkle nodded. "Global retrograde amnesia. I'm assuming he's actually in an atypical fugue state. There's no sign of physical trauma, but he may have suffered a psychic one..."
"Is he going to be okay?" Lois asked.
"Physically, he's fine," McCorkle said. "Whether he's going to regain his memory immediately, I don't know. Based on the battery of questions we ask, it seems Clark suffers from what we call the 'Superman Complex.' He's a chronic do-gooder who thinks he can handle anything. If he set himself an important task that he failed at… Well, that kind of setback can be very frustrating."
"Tell me what to do," Lois said.
"Clark needs to be surrounded by familiar people, and do familiar things. Be patient with him. It will come back to him in time," McCorkle told her.
"Doctor, the world may end in about two days," Lois pointed out. "Time is not on our side here."
-o-o-o-
Lois took Clark back to the Planet with her. She had him change into the spare set of clothes he kept in his locker, found his spare pair of glasses. She then showed him around the newsroom, hoping to jog his memory. She settled him at his desk and placed a call to Doctor Deacon. "You were right," she told Deacon. "The police found him and called me." She lowered her voice. "He has global retrograde amnesia, probably caused by a psychic trauma of some sort."
"I've contacted his parents and they're on their way," Deacon said. "Don't do anything to press the issue with him. We have no idea what may have triggered this and we don't want to make it worse."
"I understand… patience. I can be patient." Lois sighed. "Look, I know you're not likely to know, but Lex Luthor left me a bunch of messages saying he had something to show me. I know what it isn't, but do you have any idea what it is?"
"Not a clue," Deacon admitted. "But I'd be curious to find out. S.T.A.R. Labs looked at the damage projections and is evacuating as many people as they can inland. So is EPRAD, so are most of the big East Coast companies. But as far as I know, LexCorp hasn't even given its people time off to be with their families."
"I thought you didn't have good damage projections," Lois commented.
"We don't. The chunk is irregularly shaped and is wobbling as it moves. It could hit the ocean at a shallow angle, causing a tsunami; it could hit land, causing massive earthquakes, throw up enough dust for nuclear winter; it could bounce off the atmosphere, causing little damage at all. It could also hit at an angle that rips away a chunk of the Earth's atmosphere. We just don't know."
"Will EPRAD be having another news conference?"
"Tomorrow morning," Deacon told her. "If Superman doesn't show up, Zeitlin will be announcing contingency plans. No doubt one that goes 'boom'."
"You don't like things that go 'boom'?"
"I like them fine. I'm just not thrilled with the mentality that insists that since their favorite tool is a hammer, they don't need to even look and see that else might be in the toolbox."
-o-o-o-
Bits and pieces of Clark's memories were there: he remembered how Lois liked her coffee, but the people in the newsroom all drew a blank. He remembered, or intuited, that he and Cat had not been in a relationship, despite her claims otherwise. He remembered his computer password but none of the stories that had been back-burnered due to the asteroid.
It was frustrating. Lois Lane did not do 'frustrating'.
Finally she drove him to his apartment. He looked around but there was no recognition there either. He picked up the framed photo of his parents as if trying to place them.
"Nice people," Lois said. "Doctor Deacon said they were on their way here."
"Why would he do that for me?" Clark asked.
"He's a friend of your family's," Lois explained. "And I think he's hoping they can help find Superman."
"Can they?" Clark asked. "Help find Superman?"
"I think they have a better chance than anybody," Lois assured him. "I know you must be scared.
"Sort of. To have time running out when you don't know what you've missed..."
"You've been around the world," Lois told him. "You have a family who loves you. You haven't missed anything important."
"And we are friends, right?"
"Sure we're friends."
"Are we... more than friends?"
"More than...? I told you. We're partners. We work closely together."
"How close?"
"Close. Not close, close, but close."
He paused, considering her statement. She didn’t want to try to explain what she herself didn’t understand. She'd been both infuriated and thrilled to discover that Superman was far closer, and far more obtainable, than she'd imagined. But over the weeks since that discovery, the thrill had been tempered by the realization that it was Clark that made Superman who he was: compassionate, dedicated, a fighter for truth and justice. Superman was a fiction, a character in an improv play where the world was the stage. Clark was the actor playing the part, and she was just beginning to know the person behind the Superman mask.
"I bet you're a great reporter," Clark said, breaking into her reverie.
"See? Your memory's already starting to come back..."
There was a knock on the door. Lois went to open it and discovered Martha, Jonathan, and Henry Deacon standing in the hallway.
"That was a fast trip," Lois observed, ushering them in.
"The hardest part of the trip was getting from EPRAD's helipad to here," Jonathan said. "They're out of their minds out there."
"Clark, since your parents are here, I'm going to go see what Lex Luthor's so anxious to show me," Lois said.
"Lois, be careful," Clark warned. "Luthor's dangerous."
"See, I told you your memory was coming back."
"Lois, I mean it. He's dangerous."
"I know you mean it, Clark. Which is why, if I don't return from Lex Tower in two hours, you need to let Henderson know that I'm either dead or kidnapped."
"I want to come with you…"
"You need to stay here and work on getting your memory back," Lois insisted. "Just remember, two hours then call Henderson."
-o-o-o-
Luthor was waiting for her in the lobby of Lex Tower. Unlike most of the other corporate towers in Midtown Metropolis, Lex Tower was a hive of bustling busy-ness. But there was an undercurrent of stress, forced smiles, stiff postures, furtive glances in Luthor's direction. Lois had a fleeting image of someone jumping out and yelling 'boo' and the entire staff stampeding out of the building.
Luthor led her into one of the elevators and put a key into lock that had been hidden by a biometric reader. "I'd hoped you would come to me last night," Luthor said.
"It's been a hectic past couple of days," Lois said, trying not to bristle at his choice of words.
The elevator doors opened onto a long, sterile hallway. The walls were stark white and the fluorescent lighting made it seem cold and utterly impersonal. On the walls were diagrams reminiscent of the Metropolis transit system. Schematics of a complete underground city.
"You are standing precisely five hundred meters below Metropolis street level," Luthor said proudly. "Surrounded by sixteen inch reinforced concrete walls. Originally designed to survive a nuclear attack."
"A bunker."
Luthor shrugged. "I prefer to think of it as an... 'Ark.' We have room for two hundred people. Supplies to last three years. Tools and implements for farming and manufacture when we re-emerge."
"So, even if the world dies, you live?"
"The survival of a species does not depend on the survival of all its members. Indeed, were the dinosaurs possessed of a somewhat larger brain, they, too, might have escaped their fate. Fortunately for us, they did not, and now, the next chance is ours."
Lois was confused. Lex Tower had been build after the cold war, after the paranoia of nuclear annihilation had waned. So why had it been built? "Do you want me to... write about this?" she asked.
"No, no. I seek no publicity," Luthor said smoothly. "In fact, considering the circumstances, advertising the existence of this would seem to be rather cruel."
"Then why am I here?"
To answer, Luthor unlocked one of the many white doors along the white hallway. He pushed it open and Lois peered in. To her shock it was an exact duplicate of her apartment.
"This is my apartment," Lois stammered out, appalled.
"Well, at least a reasonable facsimile thereof. I hope you like it," Luthor said. He seemed oblivious to her reaction.
"I'm confused," Lois stated. "How and why have you duplicated my apartment?"
"I'm offering you a chance, Lois, to be a passenger on this ark. To be my special guest on Mankind's next great adventure." He went to the window and opened the drapes. The 'outside' scene was of a glorious sunny day. "It's an illusion, of course, but, nonetheless, better than a wall. To help you remember the way things were. How they might be again."
"Why me, Lex?"
"Because I care. And, I must admit, because three years will be a long time without... 'companionship.'"
She stared at him a long moment. She had no doubt what he meant by 'companionship'. "Lex, I don't know..." she finally said, fighting down both panic and nausea.
"Think about it. I'll await your decision," he said. "But I'm sure this is much nicer than what you'd find in one of the Truman towns, assuming they'd even let a mere reporter into their sacred inner sanctums."
"Truman towns?" Lois asked.
"Your partner - 'Clark', isn't it? - was raised in one. I'm sure you knew that," Luthor said smoothly. "Enclaves for military research with no oversight committees, no ethical considerations, a complete disdain for outsiders…"
What he was describing sounded a lot more like LexLabs than Smallville. The people in Smallville had been uniformly curious and friendly – they had wanted to know about her, to share with her and Clark what they were doing, their hopes for the future. She would have been able to make a great series about it, if the entire town hadn't been classified.
"Assuming I knew what you were talking about," Lois said. "I'm sure such a thing would be classified and I have better things to do at the moment than worry about supposed military research facilities… unless they're coming up with a way of dealing with the current problem."
"May I send someone to pack your personal belongings?" Luthor offered.
"No," Lois stated firmly, surprised at how oblivious he seemed. It was like he hadn't understood a word she'd said. "I've got a partner who needs me. I've got friends at the paper who are like family to me. And I'm not giving up on Superman either. I can't stay here. I can't hide from what's coming."
"Lois, mob rule is not a pretty sight. You don't have to see it."
"Yes, I do. If what that asteroid does is destroy the world as we know it, I have to be there to see what takes its place. It may be the best comeback in history of the planet."
"Or the fastest knock-out."
"I think the dinosaurs already have that title. Either way, I have to see for myself," Lois stated, heading back toward the elevator. "Thank you for the tour, but I have to get back to work."
"Lois, Superman didn't make it back," Luthor announced suddenly. "All that was found in the crater of whatever it was that came down in Suicide Slum was the helmet from the suit EPRAD gave him. You know EPRAD won't announce that not only did he fail to save the Earth, he wasn't indestructible. He died. They don't want to start a panic."
"So, you want me to make the announcement and start a panic?" Lois asked.
"I'm just asking you to reconsider staying," Luthor said. "Superman isn't going to save the day."
"Mister Luthor," Lois said formally. "People know I came to see you. They are expecting me back very shortly. If I do not return, rest assured, end of the world or not, they will be looking for me and they will find this place. I want to leave, now."
-o-o-o-
Just thinking about Luthor's 'ark' and the look on Luthor's face when she demanded to leave, sent shivers down Lois's spine.
She arrived back at Clark's place just inside the 2 hour deadline she had set. From the glum looks on the faces of Clark's parents, she knew they hadn't had any luck jogging his memories. From the damage to the baseball bat by the door, Lois guessed even showing Clark he really had superpowers hadn't helped.
Lois pulled out her notepad, jotted down a quick note, and handed it to Deacon. 'Is it safe to talk?'
He nodded and pointed to a small silver device on the coffee table. Lois noticed similar devices on the windows.
"How was your visit to Lex Tower?" Clark asked.
"Scary," Lois admitted. "He has a bunker beneath the building that he says can house two hundred people for three years. He had an exact duplicate of my apartment down there, including books I'd just bought."
"Why would he do that?" Martha asked.
"I don't know," Lois admitted. "It's almost like he's obsessed with me, as if he was under the influence of Miller's pheromone perfume. But that would have worn off weeks ago. And I certainly haven't given him any reason to believe I reciprocate any feelings like that. A couple other things though. He was talking about Truman towns…"
"Asking questions?" Deacon asked.
Lois shook her head. "More like trying to convince me he knew all about them so I'd be able to talk about them. He also said that Superman's spacesuit helmet had been found in a crater in Suicide Slum and that was proof that Superman was dead and EPRAD knows it."
"The helmet and pieces of the suit were found in a crater, a crater much smaller than would have been made by a full speed strike of an object of Superman's mass, so we know it wasn't a full velocity strike. That implies a semi-controlled re-entry," Deacon said. "We also knew the approximate location because Met U's seismometers pick up a 'hit'. But traffic… I figure we were, maybe, half-an-hour late in finding him ourselves."
"What's troubling me is that this Luthor seems to know more than he should about things within EPRAD," Jonathan said.
"More specifically, he knows more than he should about things happening in my office," Deacon stated.
Clark got up and headed out to the balcony. Lois followed him. The sun had gone down more than an hour before and it was snowing a little. The clouds made it impossible to look for the object barreling down on them.
"48 hours to the end of the world and no Superman in sight," Clark commented. He turned to stare at Lois.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"I was just wondering how we met."
"You were at the Planet trying to peddle some article from the Borneo Gazette to get Perry to hire you," Lois said.
"Did we like each other right away? You and me, I mean."
"We didn't not like each other," Lois told him. "I had a tip on a big story and Perry assigned you to help. We clicked… our working and writing styles, I mean."
"And Superman? Tell me about him. I'm trying to remember him…"
Lois considered her words. Deacon's anti-surveillance devices meant that he suspected there might be listeners. Natural suspicion and precaution on the part of Deacon? And was he the target, or, given what she'd seen the Luthor's bunker, was Lois and, by extension Clark, the target. Lois decided it all depended on who was doing the listening and why.
"Superman is the kind of man who makes things happen. Sure, he's great looking and he's good, but what you notice most about him is how you can count on him," Lois said after a moment. "I remember the first time..." She went on to describe how Superman had rescued the Prometheus station, how he had rescued her from Jason Trask when Trask had her thrown from an airplane.
As she spoke, she saw Clark's expression change from mere interest to something else. "You remember him?"
"Yeah, I think I do," Clark said. He ushered her back into the living room, carefully closing the balcony doors behind them and closing the drapes. "We have a problem…"
-o-o-o-
Lois sat at her desk in the newsroom reading the morning edition of the Planet. The head-line read: "SUPERMAN CAME HOME" with the sub-headline, "Where Is He Now?" The by-line read, "By Perry White and James Olsen." The story documented how Perry and Jimmy found the crater in Suicide Slum – the crater that hadn't been large enough to have been created by a mass the size of Superman moving at the speed a meteorite would have had. The crater where pieces of Superman's uniform had been found.
The television monitor was set to LNN and EPRAD's news conference was scheduled to begin in a few moments. The world was waiting for news of Superman.
"It's a good story," Lois said. "He deserves the by-line."
"He earned it," Perry told her. "And as long as we know Superman got back to Earth, there's still hope."
"He made it back…" Lois assured her boss. She looked around the newsroom knowing that Clark wasn't there. Clark and his parents were trying to figure out how to get his powers back to full strength. Something had happened to him that made him fall to Earth and that something had depleted his strength and robbed him of his ability to fly.
"You don't have to be here now. It's your choice. Go be with him," Perry was saying.
"Look, Perry, I'm a reporter. If this is the last great story to cover on the last edition of the Daily Planet, then this is where I belong," Lois said.
"What about your family?" Perry asked.
"We already managed to get everybody together on an open phone line. Mom and Dad even acted like they cared about each other. It was nice. You?"
"Alice was visiting her sister when it all happened. She can't get a flight out of Des Moines."
"I'm sorry."
"She knows how I feel about her and what she's meant to me. That's the important thing," Perry said. "How's Clark doing?"
"Things started coming back last night," Lois said. "Having his parents here really helped. But still… a lot's still missing."
"Maybe he's the lucky one," Perry mused. "If he doesn't remember the way it was, maybe he won't miss it."
Frank Madison came on the television screen as LNN started airing the news conference. Again Daitch stood at the podium. "Ladies and gentlemen, people of the world. As you have no doubt read, there is evidence that Superman did return to Earth. However, he has not, as yet, made contact with us. We don't know why he has not contacted us and we fear the worst, that he was injured and is now unable to help us. However, there is no need for panic. Even without Superman's help, we are confident we can handle this latest challenge with existing resources." Daitch moved aside for Zeitlin. "General?"
"We have several delivery systems," Zeitlin stated. "Notably the Asgard booster, which we are in the process of re-programming. At the same time, we're currently attaching nuclear payloads which, if we can deliver them, should break up the second asteroid, 'Shiva II'. We hope to be ready to launch in a few hours."
"And the chances they can hit something like that?" someone in the newsroom asked.
Jimmy chuckled but there was no mirth in it. "You know how many times the chief's VCR's been in the shop? Things break. Things don't work. And they gotta hit this moving target and get it right the first time. I'm not feeling lucky, are you?"
-o-o-o-
Seven hours later Lois was waiting, watching television with Clark and his parents to see if the Asgard would succeed. Clark was still without his powers and Martha looked to be at her wits end over it.
Frank Madison was back on the television. He was looking as exhausted as Lois felt. "According to EPRAD Mission Control," Madison said, "The Asgard rocket with the nuclear payload should detonate against 'Shiva II' any second now. Let's go to EPRAD."
A computer graphic showed the trajectory of the missile and asteroid.
"Tracking telemetry zero, niner, alpha," a man's voice said. Then: "The Asgard rocket has missed its target. Repeat, the Asgard rocket has missed its target." Another pause and a plaintive voice said, "Superman, where are you?"
Jonathan clicked off the TV. Clark looked like he might actually cry.
"Superman did his best, Clark," Lois said softly. "No one can fault him for not knowing what nobody knew about the second rock. It must have been awful for him, all that effort and then to see that second rock and not have anything left. And then it's been cloudy for days now…"
Martha's eyes widened. "The space suit was radiation resistant… and it's been cloudy…"
"Sun lamps?" Jonathan asked. "Will there be time?"
"There has to be," Clark said. "Call Doctor Deacon and see if he has a second helmet."
-o-o-o-
LNN had started continuous coverage of the end. The other stations were simply rebroadcasting LNN. They had sent their people home for the end. The Daily Planet had opened its basement bomb shelter for as many employees and their families that could make it there. Not that it would help if Deacon's worst case scenario came true – if Shiva II ripped away much of the Earth's atmosphere.
"This is EPRAD Ground Control. We are fourteen minutes and counting from the impact of the 'Shiva II' asteroid," a man's voice said. Then: "Mission trackers reporting an anomaly. Switching to back-up computers for corroboration… Roger, confirmation. Asteroid velocity is decreasing and its trajectory is changing… The new time to impact…" On screen, numbers from the tracking stations flashed by, the countdown clock going into reverse as more data came in.
"We are stopping the countdown clock at this time," the voice from EPRAD said. "Current projections are that Shiva II will miss the Earth by approximately 20,000 kilometers."
Shouts of joy could be heard in the background. "It's gotta be Superman!"
-o-o-o-
The party went on all night and well into the day – all over the world people were blowing air horns, kissing and hugging strangers, whooping and dancing. Lois suspected there would be more going on outside if the weather weren't so cold. At least the snow had stopped and the sun had come out - a beautiful day to celebrate the not-the-end-of-the-world. She also expected there'd be a world-wide baby boom in nine months time.
She stepped into the newsroom and looked around. There'd been a party there as well. Jimmy was pouring what looked to be the last of the champagne into Perry's glass. There were several open – and empty – cases on the floor. It was a wonder anyone was still upright.
"Perry, these last two days were the best days of my life. Even if it was almost the end of the world," Lois overheard Jimmy saying to Perry.
"You did a good job Jimmy. You hustled, you didn't give up, you got the story," Perry responded.
"Just wish I could write better."
"Nothing wrong with being a photo-journalist with a nose for news. You keep at it, son. Never know what'll happen."
Lois promised herself to look into getting Jimmy a camera for his birthday.
Suddenly, the crowd below erupted in a huge roar. Jimmy grabbed his old camera and ran to the open window. Superman was hovering above the crowd, waving and smiling.
Seconds later, Clark walked up to the newsroom gang at the window.
"Did I miss something?" Clark asked, smiling.
"Only Superman making his victory lap after saving the world," Lois said.
"A real day to remember," Perry said, coming over to them. "If you'll pardon the expression." He moved off to greet more of the staff that had come in.
"He really came though," Lois said.
"And in the nick of time. A few more minutes and I don’t think even Superman could have been able to move that rock out of the way."
"You know, Doctor Deacon promised us an interview if we were still here," Lois said with a grin. "Do you want to call him or should I?"
---------------------------------------------------------------
"
All Shook Up" was written by Bryce Zabel.
'Eureka' (AKA 'A Town Called Eureka') was created by Andrew Cosby and Jaime Paglia.
