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Part 8/?
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There's a soft green glow coming from inside the box. Surely Lucas wouldn't be keeping Kryptonite? I don't feel sick so I reach inside and pull out a long, thin translucent strip of something that looks like plastic but feels like metal. Yet it's far too pliable to be metallic.
< "I have left these memories for my wife.">
Maybe it's a recording? Is this the Kryptonian version of a home movie? But how do I play it? I set the film back into the box and press on the symbols at random. Nothing happens. Gosh thanks, Lucas. You should have left the VCR, too.
And then I realize that maybe I do have one. Not here, but at home. Could the globe could play the message? All those messages that Jor-El left me, what if those were recorded on something similar? I close the box and fly out the window towards home.
A few minutes later I settle into my old treehouse. The globe glows at my touch as if in greeting. I open the box and pull the film out. How do I make it play? There are no obvious openings on the globe. Then again, there aren't any obvious openings on the box and yet opens. I'm touching the film to the globe at random when the globe starts to hum and alters to show its map of Krypton. The film is sucked into the globe with a soft "pfffft" sound.
I wait but nothing happens. The globe goes dark again. I close my eyes in frustration. Maybe it needs to process the film first? Or maybe it's really old? What if the globe isn't compatible with whatever Lucas used to record it? What do I do now? I wait a few more minutes, but it looks like the show is over for the night. I leave Lucas' box in the treehouse and take the globe with me back to Doc's house.
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The next morning I come out of my room at the same time as Lois. She doesn't look over at me as she hurries to get down the stairs before I can say anything.
"Good morning, Lois!" I lean over the rail to watch her descending the stairs.
"Good morning," she says breathlessly and then disappears around the corner into the kitchen. I grin. She's embarrassed about last night.
As I come into the kitchen Lois leaves through the back door, moving down the path towards the dig site at almost a jog. Is she going to avoid me all day?
Josh and Emily look at me curiously.
"Lois not talking to you?" Josh asks.
I shrug and pour myself a bowl of cereal.
"Good morning, children!" Marty says as he comes in back door. "How are we all this fine morning?"
Emily lets out a disgusted sigh. Josh smiles at Marty. "There must be a re-enactment in your future. Which one is it?"
"The Battle of Lewis Ridge!"
"That's not until tomorrow," Emily grouses.
"True, but I'm leaving this morning to drive out there. I will have to live without the pleasure of your company for the next few days."
"And yet, somehow, I think we'll survive," Emily mutters.
"Ah, sweet Emily, I'll miss you most of all." He sits down next to her and bats his eyes at her. "Promise me you won't find anything significant until I get back."
"Just go play dead all ready, will you?" Her voice is gruff but she's fighting a smile.
Marty stands up and salutes us all. Josh returns the salute and Marty practically skips out of the kitchen. Josh shakes his head in amusement. "He's always so giddy when he leaves for a re-enactment."
"And such an idiot when he returns," Emily finishes.
By the time the three of us finish breakfast and walk down to the dig site, Lois and Doc have laid down boards to cover the vestiges of mud still left. Lois has settled in and is gamely trowling dirt into a bucket. I smile at her and she blushes, looking away quickly. Emily takes Doc's place in the trench and he goes into the tent to make entries in the log.
Josh and I work at removing the debris from the cabin. After a couple of hours we've cleared everything away but the center roof beam. Josh looks at the heavy wooden beam and then at me. "You're a walking miracle," he tells me.
"Doc!" Emily yells suddenly. "Doc, come look! I think we found him!"
Doc moves into the trench, shooing Lois and Emily back. Josh and I kneel on the edge and watch from above. Doc takes a paintbrush and softly cleans the area Emily was working. It looks like a light brown stone to me. Doc teases a little more soil away.
Emily twists her hands in excitement. "Is it him?"
"Get the camera," Doc tells her. Emily runs to the tent, grabs the camera and comes back into the trench. Doc leans back and she takes a picture. Doc asks for a small trowel and he scrapes away more dirt, revealing more and more of the stone. There seems to be a large hole in the stone and I realize with a jolt that it's the eye socket of a skull.
"Hello, Lu-Kess," I whisper.
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Emily tells us that's it's going to be an all-day project just to expose the skull. For once I understand perfectly Lois' lack of patience. I'm torn between watching Doc slowly reveal Lucas and the urge to go check the globe and see if it's ready to show me anything. I tell Josh that I'm going for a walk. He waves me away distractedly, intent on watching Doc.
I go back to my room and get the globe. It doesn't hum or light up but I have a rising sense of anticipation. Even though the day is warm, I put on my jacket so that I can hide the globe in the pocket. I walk in the opposite direction of the dig, following the road down the hill to the bridge before ducking into the trees. I sit for a few seconds, concentrating on my surroundings. No one seems to be nearby.
I pull the globe from my pocket and wait. After half a minute it hums and changes to show me Krypton. Then I see Lucas, running down a darkened hallway. "I was set up by the House of Zod," he intones. I cannot stay and be imprisoned for a crime I did not commit." The view changes as Lucas enters a large room. He runs along a row of spacecraft before hurriedly climbing into one near the end. "I have looked through the data compiled by our exploratory probes. It is a fair distance but I believe it is possible. All the research I have done into deep space exploration will now be tested to its limits. I set the coordinates and bid farewell to my home." The craft leaves the hanger and, second later, I see Krypton growing smaller over Lucas' shoulder as he watches out a window.
"There was a part of me that hoped I would never awaken from the necessary suspension. That I might float forever unaware of what I have given up. But I have beaten the odds and arrived safely on the planet called Earth." I see the image of the craft approaching Earth and then streaking across the sky before landing in the same meadow that Lucas built his cabin.
"Its atmosphere is similar to Krypton and its people are like ours. The radiation from its sun is different and I have found myself far more powerful here than I ever was on Krypton. They say our sun will someday destroy Krypton. I pray my family may find a way to avoid that fate. When they realize I am gone, surely they may try and join me?"
The view of the meadow remains but the cabin has appeared, new and sturdy. I see Lucas walking down towards the lake on the same path that now leads to the pier. "Years have passed and I am accepted as one of them. But I am not, a distinction that I try to remember. Only one here has touched my heart. The son of my neighbor; young Seth. He reminds me of our son. What have you become, Kal-Kess? Do you look with shame upon your father? Or has my innocence been discovered in the intervening years?"
I see Lucas sinking his spacecraft in the center of the lake. "I only know I must not return. I am here now. This must be my home. What becomes of me no longer matters. My only regret is that no honors or tributes will be given upon my death. I will have remained a stranger. Only Seth will grieve my passing. There will be no one to tend my grave."
I feel ashamed of my own interest in disturbing his grave. Lucas' gray eyes go soft and his shoulders sag just a little.
"My days are spent in the remembrance of you, dearest Kacie. I remember your hesitation in believing me to be your true mate; how I had to woo you so carefully. I knew from the first our connection was real. I feel it still, a small invisible thread that binds me to you. My only comfort is that you may feel it, too. Know that I did this for you and for our son. Know that I still live. I live for you."
That's it, I realize, that's what he was thinking about in his picture. His eyes have the same haunted expression. He was thinking of Kacie.
The globe fades and Lucas disappears. I close my eyes for a moment, overcome with emotion for this man. Was he ever proven innocent? Did Kacie really know what became of him or did she believe he simply vanished? I tuck the globe into my jacket pocket and return to the road.
The truck appears over the rise, its speed increasing as it comes down the hill. Why is Lois driving the truck? And why would she be so foolish as to try and take the corner before the bridge like Emily did? I hear a stomping noise and realize that she is trying to slow the truck down but the brakes are gone. I look around and realize I only have a few seconds before she reaches the bridge. There's no way I could run and change. It would be far too suspicious that Superman was all the way out here - again.
I stand in the road and wave at her to steer towards the trees.
"Clark! Move! I don't have brakes!" She leans on the horn as she hurtles towards me. But my gambit works, she steers to the left to avoid me. As the truck is about to hit the trees I move, letting the truck's right bumper strike me first to absorb the majority of the impact so that when it hits the trees it's going much slower. As soon as it stops I throw myself to the side, coming to rest on the dusty road.
"Clark!" The truck's door flies open and Lois jumps out, stumbling on the uneven ground as she races toward me. I sit up and pretend to wince. "Clark, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I think so," I reassure her. "I think I just got the wind knocked out of me."
"What did you think you were doing, jumping in front of the truck like that?" She looks both angry and tearful.
"I wasn't in front of the truck. I was running over to help you and it just kind of glanced past me."
"Help me? Help me how? What were you going to do? Throw yourself in front of the truck to stop it?"
"No, I just wanted to be there after you hit the trees, in case you needed help."
"You're lucky you're still alive." She looks over at the truck and I follow her gaze. There's a huge dent on the right side of the grill - exactly where the truck hit me. All I can do is hope she doesn't think too hard about it. Or maybe I'm hoping she *will* think too hard about it.
"Stay here," she tells me. "I'm going to go get help."
"No, Lois, I think I'm okay. I can walk." I prove it by standing up. Lois moves close to my side, putting both her arms around my waist to support me. Any protest I was about to make is lost at the sensation of her arms around me.
"Just take it slow," she cautions me.
"I'm fine, really."
"And I'm serious. I can't believe that didn't kill you."
In the end I give in and allow her to 'walk' me back to the house. There are far worse ways to spend the afternoon.
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Lois insists that I sit down at the kitchen table once we reach the house. No amount of protesting will convince her that I'm fine. I sit and she leaves to go down to the dig site. As soon as she crosses the bridge I rush upstairs and tuck the globe back into its hiding place. I'm sitting at the table when Lois returns with Emily.
"Lois said you had an accident?" Emily looks to me for confirmation.
"Actually, Lois had the accident. I just got a little bump as the truck went past me."
Emily looks at both of us as if she's trying to decide why we're making up this story. "Lois said the truck hit you?"
"How could I have walked back to the house if the truck hit me? You hit the trees, Lois, not me."
Emily looks at Lois. Lois frowns. "I'm telling you, I hit him with the truck."
"Were you aiming for him?" Emily asks with a smile. I laugh. Lois doesn't.
"No, of course not," Lois tells her icily. I laugh again and she glares at me. "I wasn't!"
"How are things going down at the dig site?" I ask, trying to change the subject.
"We almost have the entire skull exposed," Emily says. "I think it will be a couple of days, but we should be able to recover the entire skeleton."
"Is there anything we can do to help?" I ask.
"Yeah, if you're up to it. We're going to dig down at the end of the trench. We'll go faster since we'll just save each bucket and process it later. Lois, is the truck totaled or can you still go into town to get more buckets?"
Lois shakes her head. "I think the brakes went out. I was stomping on them but it didn't make any difference."
Emily nods glumly. "Okay, we'll have Josh look at the truck. He's our mechanic. We'll just make do with the buckets we all ready have."
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By dusk we've managed to remove just over two feet of topsoil from Lucas' grave. Doc calls a stop to our excavation since we're quickly losing the light. I'm walking behind Lois as we head back to the house. She slows down as we come close to the bridge. Then she bends down to play with her shoelace. As I go to pass her she touches my leg to stop me.
"Clark, wait," she says in a low tone.
"What is it?"
"I was talking to Emily. She went with Josh to bring the truck back up the hill. Someone cut the brake line. It wasn't an accident."
I had all ready guessed as much. "That's two accidents in as many days," I muse. "Kinda makes you want to not get out of bed tomorrow, doesn't it?"
"Are you kidding? Do you realize that we're uncovering definitive proof that Superman isn't the only alien to come here?" She straightens back up and gives me an incredulous look.
"Another visitor from a strange planet?"
"Sure, make jokes. I'm serious. You can stay in bed all day if you want, but I'll be helping out here." She swats at an insect in irritation.
"Lois, I'm not making jokes. I'm taking your safety very seriously here."
"My safety? You're the one who was nearly killed twice. Isn't there something wrong with this picture? If I'm the target, why are you the one in constant danger?"
"I told you I wouldn't let anyone hurt you." I know I'm needling her, but it seems worth the trouble.
"I'm serious, Clark. There's something wrong about this whole setup."
"You've just now reached that conclusion? There was nothing wrong with someone stalking you all the way here? You were the one driving the truck when it crashed."
"You know what it is? It's too random. There was no way to be sure that you would go in the cabin yesterday or that I would be driving the truck today."
"So you're saying someone here is setting traps without regard for who gets caught in them?"
"Not someone - Josh. The brake line was cut. Emily said Josh is their mechanic out here. And I did see him push on the wall when you were inside the cabin."
"But why?"
"Have you given any thought to the idea that he has it in for you?"
"No," I tell her emphatically, taking her elbow to urge her back to the house. "Josh doesn't have it in for me. We're friends, Lois. Friends don't try to kill each other."
"Don't be so sure. We're friends and I frequently want to kill you."
"Is that all?" I ask before I can think better of it.
"Is that all, what?"
"Is that all you want to do to me? Kill me?" It's a gamble, but maybe it will pay off.
"Are you suggesting I want to do something to else to you?" She stops walking, her hands on her hips.
My lips twitch as I fight a smile. "You tell me."
"Is this about last night? It is, isn't it? See, this is why I backed off. It's a bad idea."
"What's a bad idea?"
"You and me, working together and… being together. It won't end well."
I want to tease her about how she could possibly know that for certain without trying. I stop myself because levity is only going to push her away. "Lois," I tilt her chin up to look at me. "Why does it have to end? If it's something we both want, then it can work. I want this to work. Do you?"
Her eyes search mine for a long moment. I don't look away, hoping she will realize just how much this means to me.
"Take me swimming again tonight, Clark," she whispers.
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