Home: Circle of Fate -- 13/14
by Nan Smith
Previously:
Lori nodded, forgetting that the doctor couldn't see her. "What kind of power cell does it use? Can you tell?"
"Just a second --" There was silence on the other end, broken by various unidentifiable rustles and clicks. "Uh -- it says it's a 'genuine DuroRay power cell, size -23e' and guaranteed to outlast the life of the -- oh, that's an advertisement. It's a DuroRay power cell."
"It sounds more like a shoe-size or something," Lois remarked.
Apparently Dr. Klein chose to ignore this witticism. "I'm afraid we don't manufacture batteries like this, yet," he said. "I don't think even one of those bunny rabbit batteries would power this thing."
"'Bunny rabbit' batteries?" Lois asked.
Lori popped open the back of her wrist talker. "Dr. Klein, my wrist talker uses the same kind of power cell! You're in luck, too -- I just put in a new one last week, so it's practically new! If you like, I can bring it over, and give it to you for the controller."
"That's all right," Bernie said. "The townhouse is only a little out of my way. I'll drop by and pick it up."
**********
And now, Part 13:
Lori glanced at the antique clock on the mantle. "It's after eight," she said. "I must have been really tired."
Lois followed her gaze. "It's been a busy day," she said. "I'm hungry."
"So am I," Lori said. "If Dr. Klein is coming over, I'd like to brush my hair and fix my face a little."
"I have tons of spare makeup," Lois said. "Fortunately, you and I have the same coloring. Go into my bathroom -- it's in the drawer on the right."
"Thanks," Lori said.
"And in the meantime," Lois said, "I'm going to order out for pizza. Martha and Jonathan will be arriving soon, too. We're going to have to hurry a little."
By the time Lori returned, with her hair brushed and her makeup repaired, it was nearly eight-thirty. Lois had turned on the lamps at each end of the sofa and was leaning back against the pillows with her feet up on the ottoman.
"I feel better," Lori said. "It's amazing how much just looking your best can improve your outlook on life."
"It certainly is," Lois said. "Dr. Klein should be here in a few minutes." She sat up. "Henderson called while you were upstairs," she added. "He wanted to remind me to be careful. They haven't found Tempus, yet."
"I hope they get him, soon," Lori said. "I don't want to leave him where he's a danger to you after I've gone home."
Lois heaved herself to her feet. "Clark and I can handle him," she said. "Without all his futuristic toys, he's not much more dangerous than any of the other thugs we've put in jail. I just want to get you home safely. Clark must be going out of his mind."
"I know." Lori bit her lip. "I've really enjoyed meeting you and so many of the other people Clark has told me about," she said, "but I want to go back to my own time." She held up the power cell to her wrist-talker. "If this helps Dr. Klein fix the time window control, it'll be worth it," she added. "I can't use it to communicate with anyone in this time, anyway, and if it works, we won't have to worry about sending the message to Clark."
Lois nodded. "Still, it's worth having a backup plan."
"Oh, I agree." Lori turned her head as the doorbell sounded. "Well, someone's here."
Lois got to her feet and made her way to the door. They had locked both the inner and outer doors, so she unlocked the inner door, just as the bell rang again. "Just a minute!" she called.
The bell rang again. Lois peeked out the peephole. "It's Dr. Klein." She unfastened the lock, slid the chain off and opened the door.
Bernard Klein's eyes were rolling wildly. "Lois, run!" he gasped. A hand shoved him roughly inside, and Tempus stepped through behind the scientist, closing the door after him.
At once, Lori realized what had happened. The time traveler must have intercepted Bernard Klein when he had approached the Kent townhouse, and stood out of sight while he rang the bell. Tempus pressed the semi-automatic to Klein's temple, pushing the doctor through the inner door. Lois retreated before them.
Tempus closed the inner door. "Well," he said. "Now that things are back under control, I'll take the time window controller, Doctor."
Dr. Klein hesitated, only receive a blow across the face from Tempus. "*Now*, Doctor," he said, with false pleasantness. "I've really had enough heroics from you Neanderthals, and I have no more patience to spare."
"Give it to him, Doctor," Lori said. "It won't work, anyway."
"Shut up," Tempus said. "I'm very tired of you, Lori. Did you know that? You've been a lot more trouble than you're worth. Give me the controller, Doctor."
Reluctantly, Bernie took the control device from the pocket of his jacket and handed it to Tempus.
"Come here, Lori," Tempus said. He pressed the power button.
Nothing happened.
"The power cell is broken," Bernie said. "It won't work."
"That's easily remedied," Tempus said. He handed the control back to Bernie. "Lori, give the good doctor the power cell of your wrist talker. They use the same kind."
Lori bit her lip and handed the power cell to Doctor Klein. She backed away a few steps.
Tempus pointed the handgun at her. "Stop right there, Lori."
Lori stopped.
"Replace the cell, Doctor," Tempus said. "Don't do anything foolish. I really don't want to kill you. Without you, there wouldn't be any aircars in the future, and that's one convenience that I don't want to do without."
Bernard Klein hardly seemed to notice the disclosure as he opened the control device and replaced the power cell with the one from Lori's wrist talker. Tempus snatched it from his hands as he snapped the cover back on and shoved him out of the way. "All right, get back." He grinned mockingly. "Now, Lori, we're going to continue our interrupted trip. Come here."
Bernie backed cautiously away, stopping when the backs of his legs encountered the sofa.
Lori didn't move. Tempus raised his weapon. "Come here," he repeated. "I don't want to shoot you if I don't have to, you know. I'd much rather leave you stranded somewhere in time." He gave a smile that was more a grimace. "Did I tell you that I love irony? It's my trademark."
"So many times that it's getting boring," Lori said. She moved cautiously toward him. He apparently didn't know, she thought, that the modulator, or whatever Dr. Klein had called it, was broken, and that the time window it opened would be only a fraction of the size that was needed to transport two full-sized human beings through time. It might be the distraction that she needed. If she could manage to catch him off guard, they might have a chance.
"Take the controller," he said, thrusting the device into her hand. She took it, and he grasped her wrist, holding on tightly, and covering Lois and Bernie with the handgun. His grip was brutal. Tears started from her eyes as he crushed the bones of her wrist painfully together. Apparently, he recalled how she had broken his grip the first time, and didn't intend to let her escape that way again. She gritted her teeth against the pain, planning her next move. Evidently, the time traveler didn't realize that a grip could be broken in more ways than one. Tempus, she thought, was clever and ruthless, but he wasn't nearly as smart as he thought he was.
Still, he wasn't above killing her, or Lois, if nothing else would serve his purpose. The situation wasn't good. From the corner of her eye, she glanced at the weapon in Tempus's hand.
"Push the red button," Tempus said. "You two --" He spoke to Lois and Bernie, a tight smile on his lips, "You can watch Utopia die."
Lori pushed the button.
A tiny window, four inches by three, appeared in the air. Tempus blinked. He released Lori's wrist and snatched the controller.
"Where's the window?" he demanded.
"I *told* you it wouldn't work!" Bernie said, sounding almost triumphant, "but nobody ever listens to me -- especially not megalomaniacs with Kryptocidal hangups."
"Well, fix it!"
"I can't," Dr. Klein said. "Not on the spur of the moment. It's going to take time."
The miniature time window hung suspended in space. It was then that Lois leaned forward to look directly into it. Her eyes widened. "Clark!" she shouted. "Open John's gift!"
The time window flicked into nothingness.
"*Shut up*!" Tempus shouted. His infuriated attention was split between Lois and Dr. Klein. Lori struck at the gun with the edge of her hand. The weapon flew free, and thudded to the floor. Lois instantly kicked it across the room.
Tempus lunged for the handgun, and Lori stuck out a foot. The time traveler tripped over it, tried to regain his footing and sprawled forward on the carpet almost at Dr. Klein's feet. The time window controller flew from his hand, sailed across the room and hit the bricks of the fireplace with an ominous clatter. Dr. Klein seized the cut glass lamp that stood on the sofa's end table, and struck hard and true. The lamp shattered, but Tempus collapsed face down on the carpet, unconscious.
"*Nice* one!" Lois said. "Good job, Dr. Klein!"
The doorbell rang.
Lois glanced at them and went to answer it.
"It's Martha and Jonathan," she said, starting to open the door. "And the pizza delivery guy. Dr. Klein, call Inspector Henderson! His number's by the phone!"
**********
Lois finished paying the thoroughly confused pizza boy, and closed the door. Martha and Jonathan Kent stood in the entrance hallway, looking at the scene before them in a puzzled way while Lori finished tying Tempus's hands with the cord from the broken lamp. Dr. Klein put down the phone.
"Inspector Henderson said he'd have a car here in a few minutes," he informed them. "He said not to touch the gun."
"Not a problem," Lois said. "Martha, Jonathan, I'd like to introduce Bernard Klein. He's Clark's doctor. And this is Lori, my cousin."
"Glad to meet you," Jonathan said. He stepped forward to give Lori a hand up from the floor. He glanced sideways at Tempus, who appeared to be reviving. "Is that who I think it is?"
"John Doe," Lois said. "Tempus, the time traveler."
"What's *he* doing here?"
"It's a long story," Lois said. "Basically, he was trying to destroy the future -- again. Dr. Klein hit him with my lamp." She paused as something seemed to occur to her. "'Kryptocidal'?"
"Well, it seemed appropriate at the time." Bernie looked remorsefully at the shattered pieces of lamp. "I'll replace your lamp, Lois. I'm sorry. There wasn't anything else within reach."
Lois began to laugh. "Don't bother," she said. "I think Clark would say it was gone in a good cause."
"That's for sure," Lori said. "The only problem now is how to make sure he doesn't get away again."
"I'm not sure it's possible," Lois said. "If his people come and get him, he's bound to try to escape and try again."
"And again and again and again," Lori said. "It seems to me that the people of the future are kind of careless with this guy -- especially since he's trying to destroy their civilization. You'd think they'd take more precautions with him, considering." She went to pick up the control device. "I hope this isn't broken. It seems pretty fragile."
"Let me see," Bernard Klein said. He took it and pressed the button.
Nothing happened.
"Oh great," Lori said.
"What is it?" Martha asked.
"Tempus's time travel device," Lois said. "It looks like we'll have to go with Plan B, after all."
Bernie pressed the catch and the device opened obligingly for him. He began to examine the innards. "The power cell is cracked again," he said. "It looks like there's some other damage, too."
"Do you think you can fix it?" Lori asked.
Bernie shrugged. "Maybe. Eventually."
"Eventually isn't soon enough," Lori said, on the verge of tears. "I need to get back home!" She glanced at Martha and Jonathan Kent and closed her lips firmly together.
Martha glanced sharply at her, but didn't say anything. Lois moved up beside her and put an arm around her shoulders. "It's all right. You're going to get home. I'll make sure the message gets to them. I promise. And maybe Bernie can study this thing more thoroughly -- maybe come up with some way to protect both of us from Tempus in the future." She made a face at the inadvertent pun. "Maybe something that HG Wells didn't think of. What do you think, Dr. Klein? Could you come up with some way to keep time travelers away from the two of us?"
The scientist was still studying the innards of the time window control. "Maybe. Once I figure out how this thing works, I might be able to find a way to keep someone from operating a temporal field around you. Maybe something that would interfere with whatever it uses to get a grip on the curvature of space ..."
"If you do," Lori said, "you can't tell anyone about it, Dr. Klein." She gestured at Tempus. "Look what happened when HG Wells started messing around with the future."
Dr. Klein also looked at Tempus. "I see your point," he said.
The doorbell rang. Lois went to look out and then opened the door. "Bill! I didn't expect to see you again, tonight."
"Let's say I wasn't taking any chances," William Henderson said.
"That's just as well," Lois said. "He's in here."
Henderson followed her, and paused at the sight of Tempus stretched face down on the floor, his hands bound behind him with an electrical cord, and pieces of broken glass scattered about. "Where's the gun?" he asked after a startled instant. The two silent uniformed officers with him looked at each other, but didn't speak.
"Over there," Lois said, pointing.
Henderson nodded to the men and bent to examine the half-conscious man. "Looks like somebody belted him a good one," he said approvingly. "Was that your work, Lois?"
"No, that was Dr. Klein," Lois said.
"Good work, Doc," the Inspector said. "Want to give me a quick rundown of what happened?"
"Sure." Lois glanced sideways as one of the police officers efficiently handcuffed Tempus and removed the electrical cord. Lori remained silent as Lois gave the Inspector a suitably edited summary of the events of a short time before. Henderson shook his head.
"I wonder what it is that has every criminal, mad scientist and general lunatic constantly after you," he remarked, while his men were escorting the groggy time traveler away. "You seem to tick them off without any trouble at all. Do you want to file charges against him?"
Lois shook her head. "I've got other things to waste my time on," she said. "Besides, he's got a life sentence from his attempt to destroy the world. Anything I could add wouldn't make a difference."
"True," Henderson said. "In that case, I'll get out of your way." His official expression dissolved into a slight smile. "Good job, all three of you. Thanks for saving me a king-sized headache."
"You're welcome," Lois said.
**********
"Well," Martha said. "I don't think I've ever walked into anything quite like that before."
"No kidding," Lois said. "Come on in and sit down."
"I need to get going," Bernie Klein said. "It's been an interesting evening." He turned to Lori. "I'll keep working on the time window controller. Hopefully, you won't need it."
He was interrupted by a low humming sound that filled the room. A gust of displaced air blew Lori's hair out straight behind her, and an unfamiliar silhouette became translucently visible in the empty space of the hallway beside the stairs.
She watched, her heart pounding suffocatingly in her chest as a strangely bulky device, shaped somewhat like a long, antique car with no roof and no wheels, gradually solidified in the space where there had been nothing a moment before.
Three shapes could be seen riding in high-backed seats, and she held her breath, aware of nothing but the pounding of the blood in her ears. The sound rose to a roar and then abruptly cut off. The observers stood still, staring at the strange apparition that had appeared so suddenly in the townhouse.
Clark Kent climbed out of what could only be described as the driver's seat, followed by CJ Kent and John Olsen.
Lois nudged Lori. "They figured it out," she said. "It looks like you're going home."
**********
tbc
