Home: Circle of Fate 7/?
by Nan Smith
Previously:
Dr. Klein looked Lori over, and his eyebrows went up. "This isn't another clone, is it, Lois? I thought --"
Lois shook her head. "No. Lori's as human as I am, but we've got a pretty fantastic story to tell you -- and we're going to have to swear you to secrecy. You can't even tell Clark. You'll understand when we explain."
If it were possible, Dr. Klein's eyebrows rose even higher. "Are you sure, Lois?"
"Absolutely. Can we sit down?" she added. "Standing for very long right now hurts my back."
"Uh -- sure. Come on into the conference room," Klein said. "Now what's so secret that you can't even tell Clark?"
"This," Lori said. She removed the control for the time window from her pocket. "You're probably the only person on Earth that may be able to repair it."
Dr. Klein took the object, examining it as the two women took seats. "What is it?"
"That's what we're going to explain," Lois said. "And it requires a little background. Do you remember John Doe?"
**********
And now, Part 7:
As Lois talked, Lori watched Bernard Klein's face. The scientist's eyes got wider and wider, but he didn't say a word. Finally, his gaze fell on the time-window controller, and he began to examine it closely. When Lois finished, he was silent for nearly a full minute. Finally, he scratched his right eyebrow with a forefinger and looked up from the control mechanism. "Are you sure of this?" he asked. "I mean -- time travel? It sounds looney."
"I know," Lois said. "If I hadn't done it, myself, I wouldn't believe it -- but I have."
"When did *you* travel in time?" Klein asked, looking startled.
"It was before Clark and I were married. Before I knew. Tempus went back in time to May 19th, 1966 to Shuster's Field. That was where Clark's ship landed. He tried to kill Clark as a baby, when he wasn't invulnerable, and Clark and I went back to stop him."
Dr. Klein stared at her and then at Lori. "Where do you fit into this? Why would John Doe kidnap you from your time?"
Lori and Lois exchanged a glance, and then Lois spoke. "Dr. Klein, this mustn't go any farther. If Clark finds out anything about this, the future could completely change, and Tempus will win. Do you understand?"
Dr. Klein was silent for several seconds while he processed that. "All right."
"It's very important that he not find out who Lori really is," Lois said, fixing her eyes on his. "Lori is supposed to help complete what Clark and I started in the formation of Utopia. Somehow, her baby is important, too."
"All right, I get it."
Lois turned to Lori. "Go ahead."
Lori swallowed. "In 2099, I'm Clark's wife," she said.
Bernard Klein's jaw dropped. He pulled it shut with an effort, staring at Lori and then Lois, and back at Lori again. He opened his mouth once and closed it again. He looked at her expanded middle. "His *wife*?" he finally squeaked.
"Uh huh." Lori glanced at Lois. "Somehow, I'm important to Utopia, too. Something I will do -- and I don't even know what it is -- helps finish what Lois and Clark started. Tempus grabbed me to derail the future civilization. I guess I was an easier target than Lois is."
"Which is why we need to get that thing fixed," Lois said, bringing the subject back to the present. "We have to get Lori home before her baby is born."
In spite of the drama of the situation, Lori had to work to keep her face straight at the scientist's expression. Mixed now with her respect and awe of one of the most phenomenal men of this era, was both amusement and genuine liking. Bernie Klein was not only brilliant, she thought; he was, as Clark had said, a character, and it was obvious to her that he trusted Lois, and was completely loyal to both her and Clark.
He was also, she acknowledged, an unprejudiced thinker. Any other man would have dismissed what they had told him as nonsense. Bernie Klein took them seriously, because a person he trusted -- Lois -- had sworn to him that it was true. It was obvious to Lori now why he had achieved what he had. The man was astounding.
"What?" Dr. Klein said, and Lori realized he was looking straight at her.
"Sorry," Lori said. "I read about you in my history class and Clark told me about you. It was all true, I guess, but you're much more interesting in person."
"Me?" Klein said. "I'm just a lab geek."
Lori shook her head, trying hard not to grin. She knew it wasn't respectful, but it was difficult to remember that Bernard Klein was one of the great geniuses of his time when he opened his eyes wide that way, and stumbled over his words. "No, you're not," she said. "If anyone in the world can figure out how to fix the time window control, it'll be you." She hesitated, as a thought occurred to her, and the desire to giggle disappeared. "You'll be careful, won't you? If Tempus realizes we brought the time control to you, or who you are, he might come after you, too."
"At least," Lois said, "he doesn't have his usual technological toys. Right now, he's about as dangerous as your ordinary street thug -- but be careful anyway. We don't want anything to happen to you."
Dr. Klein looked a little startled. "Naturally I'll be careful," he said. "We work with a lot of secret stuff here. That's why we have security guards."
"Just be sure you take precautions," Lois said. "Lori says you're important to the future, too, and Tempus isn't very picky about his methods, as long as they work."
"Important?" Dr. Klein said, apparently finding the idea hard to grasp. "Me?"
"You have no idea," Lori said.
"Oh," Dr. Klein said. He blinked thoughtfully. "All right, I'll do my best. I'll call your cell phone when I have some results, Lois." He looked at Lori. "Has anyone told you that you look a lot like Lois?"
"That's not surprising," Lori said. "I'm her sister's great, great granddaughter."
"I'm kinda surprised to have my theory of Superman's aging process validated this way," he said, with apparent irrelevance. "I knew he'd age more slowly than ordinary humans, but after the age drain, I wasn't sure what would happen."
"According to what he's told me, the family doctor says that it cost him maybe a couple of months," Lori said. "All that energy was only a tiny fraction of what he produces. She said it was even possible that with enough rest and exposure to sunlight, his body could have erased the loss completely. He was retired for something like fifty years or so, so maybe it did."
"That's possible," Dr. Klein said. "I hadn't considered it, but it just might work. But just for my own satisfaction, do you think you could tell me how old he appears in your time? I don't see that the information is likely to affect the future."
"He looks like he's in his late twenties," Lori said. "The same as he looks right now."
"Really!" Klein's eyebrows flew up. "Amazing!"
"How about CJ?" Lois asked. "He's going to be only half-Kryptonian."
"The same," Lori said.
"Then the Kryptonian genes are dominant," Dr. Klein said. "I suspected they might be, but it's nice to know, even if I can't tell anyone about it." He glanced at Lori's expanded waistline. "When's your baby due?"
"Three weeks," Lori said.
"So we have a little time," Dr. Klein murmured, "but not much. All right, I'll get to work on this right away."
"Then we'll leave you alone," Lois said. "Clark's going to be back from Okinawa as soon as the typhoon quiets down. He isn't likely to guess that Lori's his wife from the future, but the less he sees of her, the better."
"I understand." Dr. Klein paused for an instant, looking at them, and shook his head sharply. "I get the strangest feeling, looking at the two of you," he said. "Never mind. I'll call Herschel to escort you out."
"Is his name *really* Herschel?" Lois asked curiously. "He calls you the 'Mad Doctor', you know."
"Yeah, I know." Dr. Klein grinned. "He started calling me the Mad Doctor a while back. I thought the image was cool -- but he didn't like Igor. He said it sounded too cliché, so I started calling him Herschel. His real name's Ed Brown. He likes Herschel better."
"Naturally," Lois said. "Why am I not surprised?"
**********
Arnold Frazier watched as HG Wells's time machine seemed to grow magically before his eyes. Clark, Lara and CJ were moving so fast that their bodies were almost invisible to the naked eye, but before him an oddly clumsy and primitive machine, that Clark Kent claimed possessed such futuristic abilities, was coming into existence. Occasionally one of his super powered relatives appeared out of nothing to study the blueprint, and then vanished again into a blur of speed.
"I've never seen any of them this close up before," Gregory Carson said. His just-out-of-college lab assistant was new to the lab and had never had the opportunity to meet any of the supermen before, Arnie thought, with mild amusement. He glanced over his shoulder and noted that three other lab assistants and two of the top researchers of STAR Labs were peering through the glass windows at the spectacle in the electronics lab.
"They come here occasionally," he said with studied casualness. "We have a reciprocal agreement with them."
"Do you *know* any of them?" Gregory asked, wide-eyed.
"Oh, sure," Arnie said. "Hang around and I'll introduce you when they're finished." As if anybody would be able to pry Gregory out of the room with an iron bar, he reflected, but he didn't say so.
"What's that supposed to be?" Gregory asked, nodding at the half-finished machine.
"From what I understand, it's a time machine," Arnie said, keeping his face straight with an effort. "I've seen the blueprint. It may actually work."
"A *time* machine?" Gregory turned to stare once more at the now nearly finished vehicle. "But that's impossible!"
"According to Superman, it isn't," Arnie said. "He's apparently traveled in something like it before. We're going to run some tests on it before anyone tries it, though. It's been a long time since he actually saw the original blueprints."
"Where did it come from?" Gregory asked, clearly awed. "Did it come from the Kryptonian civilization?"
"I'm afraid Superman doesn't tell me everything," Arnie said, truthfully. "Looks like they're done," he added as the three blurs of color solidified into Superman, Tan-El and Superwoman. He hurried forward to examine the device. "Is this it?"
"It should be," his great-grandfather said. "It matches the blueprint Wells gave me."
"Well, we're still going to test it before you try it," Arnie said sternly. "We can't afford to lose you if something were to go wrong."
"I'm not indispensable," Clark said. "There are plenty of others."
Arnie didn't answer. Pointedly. Instead he beckoned to Gregory. "Superman, this is my newest lab assistant. He joined the staff last week. Greg, these are Superman, Superwoman and Tan-El. They come here for technical assistance now and then, and we do our best to help them."
Clark extended a hand. "Pleased to meet you, Greg. Any friend of Arnie's is a friend of mine."
Gregory's eyes grew wider, and he stammered an incoherent reply. Tan-El shook his hand as well, followed by Lara. The tiny superwoman smiled charmingly at the lab assistant. "Nice to meet you, Greg," she said and Arnie was careful not to smile at the stunned expression on his subordinate's face. Lara really needed to tone down the feminine charm, he thought. She had no idea what it did to hapless human males.
"Well," he said, briskly. "We'll get to work testing this thing right away. I'll call you when we're done, Superman. If it really is a time machine, the delay shouldn't matter."
"It's a time machine," Clark said. Arnie restrained himself from biting his lip. The agonized expression in Clark's eyes was enough to wipe away his amusement.
"Superman, we'll have it available as fast as humanly possible," he said quietly. "Trust me."
"I do, Arnie," Clark said. "But anything could have happened to her in the meantime."
"If something did, you can go back and fix it," Arnie said, with his great grandmother Lois's pragmatism. "Anything Tempus does isn't part of the normal time frame, so it'll be safe to change it. I just don't want to risk something happening to you when we don't have to."
Clark nodded. "You're right. All right, call me as soon as you're done."
"I will," Arnie said.
The three supermen said goodbye and in an instant had disappeared.
Gregory looked after them, wide-eyed, and then back at Arnie.
"They called you by your first name!" he said in an awed voice.
"Well, sure. I've known Superman for years," Arnie said calmly. "He's a pretty good friend. Now," he added, "I promised we'd have this ready for him as fast as we can, so let's get busy."
**********
Safely inside the Cherokee, Lori watched the tall figure of the security guard as he sauntered across the lot back toward STAR Labs. Lois was belting herself into the seat, and after a moment Lori did as well. The safety belts of today's vehicles weren't nearly as comfortable or, she was sure, foolproof as the ones in her time, but the Cherokee seemed like a fairly tough vehicle.
"I think we're going to go by the Precinct and talk to Inspector Henderson," Lois said, as she started the engine. "I imagine Tempus is in Metropolis by now, and I think Henderson would be interested. It can't hurt to have the cops on the alert for him."
"I hadn't thought of that," Lori said. "They're not going to try to check on my background, are they?"
Lois shook her head. "We won't file a police report or anything. It's sort of more in the nature of a tip."
Lori nodded. "He's wanted in this time, isn't he?"
"That's for sure. He was in the facility for the criminally insane after he tried to get himself elected president, and then to start a nuclear war. There's been a manhunt on for him for months. Naturally, they didn't find any trace of him because he wasn't in our time, but now he is, and he can't leave. If the police are looking for him, it will make it that much harder for him to try his dirty tricks."
"You know," Lori said, "he isn't thinking very straight. He's either really crazy, or maybe just plain stupid."
"What makes you say that?" Lois asked.
"Well, he was born in the second half of the 22nd Century, right?"
"Probably."
"Well, Clark said that he tried to destroy the Earth by launching attacks on all the other countries. The idea was that he was going to go into the parallel Earth and live there, but that wouldn't have worked. If he killed all his ancestors, they wouldn't be around to produce him, so he'd have wiped himself out, too."
Lois pulled out of the parking lot onto the street. "I hadn't actually thought it through, but you're right. If he destroyed the world now, it wouldn't be around for him to be born into then. He'd have killed himself." She cast Lori a perplexed look. "But then he wouldn't have been around to start the war, so it wouldn't have destroyed the world, and he would have been around to start the war ..." She broke off. "I think I'm getting a headache."
"Yeah," Lori said. "Who knows what would have happened. I guess there's probably some kind of fail-safe built into Time to handle things like paradoxes, since time travel is possible, and you can change things in the future, but I don't have any idea what it would be. Maybe your friend, Mr. Wells, would be able to tell us."
"Maybe," Lois said, somewhat doubtfully. "I'm not sure anyone could figure out what would happen with that kind of scenario, and I'm not going to try. It makes me dizzy. Let's just go talk to Henderson."
"Okay," Lori said.
"He's going to ask you questions. I want you to stick to the truth -- appropriately edited, of course. Remember, he's known here as a dangerous lunatic, so anything he says is going to be taken that way."
"He should be known anywhere as a dangerous lunatic," Lori said. "All right."
**********
William Henderson was a slender, dark-haired man in his early forties, with a cynical air and a bored expression, but even he blinked and sat up straight when Lois and Lori walked into his office.
"So, what's going on, Lois?" he asked. "Don't tell me someone else has been making clones again."
"That's what Dr. Klein said," Lois said. "Lori is my second cousin, but that's not why we came by. I wanted to give you a tip."
"And what would that be?" Henderson asked.
"You remember Tempus -- John Doe?"
"Sure."
"He made an attempt to kidnap Lori this afternoon. He may have thought she was me."
"Oh? What happened?"
"He tried to grab her. She kicked him in a delicate place and got away, but unless he's had an unusual attack of common sense, he's probably in Metropolis right now. We thought you should know."
Henderson nodded. "Thanks for the tip," he said. "Where did this happen?"
"Just a few miles west of Metropolis," Lori said.
"And how did you recognize him? Have you ever seen him in person?"
"Only in pictures," Lori said. "But that was enough. Besides, he mentioned his name and was blathering on about Clark Kent being Superman and a Superman from a parallel world. Not to mention something about changing the future by getting rid of me. It was crazy."
Henderson raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like that last press conference, all right. Do you want to file a complaint?"
Lori shrugged. "What would be the point? He's already wanted for a lot of worse things than kidnapping. Lois just thought you should know he's in the area."
"Good point," Henderson said. "You realize, Lois, that he may come after you again."
"I know," Lois said. "I'm being careful."
Henderson didn't answer for a moment, and when he did, Lori could have sworn she saw a faint twitch to the corners of his mouth. "Right. Careful. I know that Kent is out of town on assignment, so if you have no objection, I'm going to have the prowl car that covers your neighborhood make a few extra drive-bys of your house for a while."
"Actually, I'd appreciate that," Lois said. "I'm not quite up to my usual fighting form."
Henderson raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you're feeling okay?"
"Very funny," Lois said.
The police inspector regarded her with a deadpan expression. "Personally, I think if Tempus goes after the two of you, he's going to be lucky to escape with his life. The thought of two Lois Lanes running around town is enough to strike fear to the hardiest crook. And me," he added, thoughtfully. "Still, I'd miss it if you weren't around to insult me now and then, so do me the favor of being careful; all right?"
"We will," Lois said. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it." Henderson reached for the phone. "I think an APB would be in order."
"If you catch him, I get the exclusive," Lois said.
Henderson's lips twitched again. "Why doesn't this surprise me? I'll let you know when and if we find him."
**********
tbc
