From Last Time:
"How's that search that you and Commander Ching were performing coming along?"
"We decrypted a back up routing log and traced the improperly accessed files to a fairly junior civil engineer. It's possible the entire thing was just a misunderstanding." The young man frowned slightly, the conflicted look on his expression making clear that he was holding something back.
"But?"
"But I'm not ready to sign off on that conclusion, sir. I'd like to talk to the engineer first. I'm supposed to meet with him next week."
Clark chewed his lip thoughtfully. "Keep us informed," he said.
"Of course, sir," the other man replied with a nod. He held up the slender, old volume in his large hand. "Thank you again for the book."
"You're quite welcome," Clark responded.
********
New Stuff:
Ultrawoman walked into her therapist's office, stepping around the ficus plant as she made her way to the couch. "Happy New Year, Dr. Friskin," she said warmly.
"Happy New Year to you, too," the good doctor replied with a kindly smile. It was already late January, but it had been some time since Lois had been back here.
"I'm sorry for rescheduling so many times these last few weeks. You know how the holidays are," she said with a shrug.
"Do you find that your work is busier during the holiday season?" Dr. Friskin asked as she sat down in her chair and uncapped her pen. The woman clearly read meaning into the most mundane forms of small talk.
Lois laid back on the couch. "Typically, yes, and then there's all the family stuff, too. But this year was pretty crazy, even by ordinary standards."
"And why do you think that is?"
"Y2K," Lois responded simply. "It was a lot of panic over nothing, of course, but New Year's Eve was still a pretty weird night. You know, the apocalyptic, end of the world is nigh types were practically in hysterics."
"And how has everything else been?"
Lois chewed her lip, deep in thought. "Good, actually," she replied, almost surprised by her own sentiment. They were getting ready for Jon's third birthday, and the grants from the Superman Foundation were going to help fund a new clinic in Kinwara. They were scheduled to break ground in just a few weeks, after the end of the rainy season. And Perry was sending her and Jimmy back to Kinwara for the lead story for the Sunday magazine section on the rebuilding effort.
"You seem a lot more upbeat than you were last time we spoke," Dr. Friskin remarked between taking furious notes on her pad of paper.
"I guess I'm finally starting to get some perspective on what's happened and the part I played in it. I couldn't do everything, but I did everything I could."
"I think that is a perfect way of expressing it," her therapist replied. "How are things with your family?"
"Good," Lois replied. "Up until a few weeks ago, though, it wasn't the case. I was still pushing them away, still trying to protect them from everything, but I guess I realized that that was just an excuse. It was easier to pretend everything was okay if I just didn't talk about what was going on."
"So you've started opening up to them more, then?" Dr. Friskin prodded gently.
"At first, I still couldn't really talk about a lot of it, so I wrote it all down instead. And it started to get a little easier. There's still a lot we haven't talked about, but I'm done shutting them out. I just couldn't keep doing it any more."
"It sounds like you're making wonderful progress," the older woman replied. "Are you still spending a lot of time in Kinwara?"
"Not as much as when the war was going on, but I'm still helping out there. It's really good to feel useful again."
"I noticed you're in the city more these days."
"Yeah, I've been trying to spend more time here. It's always nice to be in Metropolis."
"That's good to hear. Before our next session, I want you to think about some of the things you're hopeful about. The things that are going really well and the things you're doing well. Does that sound all right?"
Lois nodded slowly. "I think I can do that," she replied.
********
He was expected, but he still hesitated before knocking. Finally, he summoned up whatever nerve he had, and rapped his knuckles against the door.
Tao Scion opened the door barely an instant later, a warm smile on his face. "Come in, my young friend," he said as he invited Clark into the apartment. "It seems like your work here is almost complete," the older man said. Clark thought he heard a distinct note of sadness in his voice.
"Almost," Clark agreed as he stopped just inside the entryway. "Once the verdict comes down, I'm going to announce my intent to abdicate."
"I'm going to miss you so much," Tao Scion said as he shook his head slowly.
"Me too," Clark replied. There were times when he couldn't recall a single good thing about this planet, when all it conjured up in his mind were thoughts of pain and loneliness and confusion. But there were people he would miss here, like the dear friend of his parents, who had kept their memory alive, who had made sense of a family and a history that would have otherwise been lost forever. Clark had respected his birth parents, and been humbled by the way they'd rescued him, but hadn't been able to love them before he came here. They were too abstracted, too distant. It was a sad and undeniable fact – Jor El and Lara had loved him more than life, and all he'd been able to muster up in response was a vague feeling of admiration. But now, they were real people – flesh and blood human beings with hopes and fears, who knew despair and triumph, and love that had neither conditions nor limits. He could finally mourn them and miss them and love them.
"Come sit, and tell me what's on your mind," Tao Scion said as he gestured toward the sitting room, breaking the long silence.
Seated in the chair across from the other man, who was patiently waiting for him to start talking again, Clark struggled for a moment to find his voice. "I wanted to ask you about my sister," he said quietly. He'd agonized for months about whether or not to ask Tao Scion about the sister he'd never known. Why drag up something that obviously still hurt his father's friend? What good could come from reliving that misery by proxy? But at the same time, he needed to know. So much of who his parents were was wrapped up in their little girl. He could never truly hope to understand them if he didn't know how it had happened. And this was the only chance he'd have. Once he left New Krypton, there'd be no way for him to ever find out.
Tao Scion regarded him with blue eyes, shining a little too brightly. Clark could see his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed. "What would you like to know?" he asked, his voice soft and low.
"You've told me what she was like, how much my parents loved her, how much they grieved for her. But I don't know how she died," he responded in a whisper.
"Cancer," Tao Scion replied tersely.
Clark closed his eyes. Kryptonians were supposed to be technologically advanced. Cancer wasn't a death sentence to them, especially when they were young. "Was it sudden?"
"Incredibly so," the other man confirmed. "She was a healthy, beautiful, bright little six year old girl, and a month later, she was gone."
"I don't understand…" Clark began as he shook his head.
"None of us did. She was fine, until one day, she wasn't. I tried to tell your parents not to fret, that I would run all the tests and we would find out what was the matter and then we'd make sure she got better. And I was wrong. We never could explain how it happened so suddenly, or why we couldn't treat her, but your father…" the old man trailed off, his voice wavering.
"What? What about my father?" Clark asked anxiously as he leaned forward. Agitation crept into his voice, pushing it up an octave.
Tao Scion closed his eyes, his head hanging low. "Localized radiation levels on Krypton had started to spike wildly – there was no pattern, no discernible explanation for it. But your father later thought it was linked to the radioactive decay that caused the planet's destruction. He blamed the first symptoms of Krypton's death for taking the life of his daughter."
Clark's heart sank like a stone. It wasn't unexpected; he hadn't come here in search of comforting news. He swallowed around the boulder that had lodged itself in his throat and let his chin fall to his chest.
"We did everything we could to ensure that she suffered no pain. That she went peacefully," Tao Scion's voice broke on the words. But hearing them helped a little. The older man lifted a hand to brush a single tear from his cheek. "Your parents were with her when she died. She wasn't alone and she knew that she was loved."
Clark scrubbed a hand through his hair. Finally, he worked up the courage to look at his father's friend, his vision slightly blurred. "I know that you took care of her, the same way you took care of my parents. They were blessed to have you in their lives." He bit his lip to check the tears and the choking sob that threatened to overwhelm him.
"I was the one who was blessed," Tao Scion said quietly. "And I still am, because all of the good that the Houses of Lo and El brought into my life still exists, in you." He stood up at the same time that Clark did and the two men hugged fiercely. They may not have shared a drop of blood, but they were still family.
********
"Everything is so different," Jimmy murmured quietly as he looked around.
"It's amazing, isn't it?" Lois asked. They walked to the center of Galani, the large town where Luc and Ingrid had worked. A tribal band greeted them, the drummers pounding a cheerful rhythm. Men, women, and children had gathered for the feast and celebration to mark the groundbreaking of the new medical facility. With money from the Superman Foundation, the Heller Clinic would soon be a reality. Homes, too, were being rebuilt and the fields were full of boys and girls playing and laughing. This town had once been all but dead—deserted for fear of rebel attacks—its inhabitants scattered in refugee camps and tent cities. Now, it was like someone had breathed life back into this place. There was still so much work to be done, but they had a chance now. They had a reason to hope.
Galani's residents welcomed them like heroes with a warmth and hospitality that defied explanation. How could people who had so little, who were still trying to rebuild their lives, find so much to give to total strangers? Their bounty seemed unlimited, as though there was enough for the world to share with them.
"Welcome to Galani, Ms. Lane, Mr. Olsen," a middle aged man said as he held out his hand to them, Lois surmised that he was probably the mayor of the town. Their reputations had preceded them here, even if the Daily Planet wasn't readily available in most parts of Kinwara. Everyone still knew that these were 'important' American reporters – people who had told the world about Kinwara, people who had helped stop the bloodshed. It still blew Lois's mind that the country where people were least likely to have seen the pictures Jimmy had taken was probably Kinwara itself.
A barefoot little girl of seven or eight, wearing a pale green dress ran toward them, smiling happily. "These are for you!" she exclaimed as she held out two strands of tiny beads.
"Thank you," Lois said with a smile as she bent down to accept the necklace. She certainly felt much more comfortable around children ever since Jon was born. She held the delicate strand in her hand. "Can you help me with it?" she asked. The little girl nodded and took the necklace as Lois knelt down. With deft little fingers, the child placed the strand around Lois's neck and tied the ends neatly together.
"Thank you," Lois said again as she took the girl's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. The girl smiled shyly and turned to Jimmy to help him with his necklace.
The mayor led them on a tour of the town, with Jimmy snapping pictures almost constantly. They talked about the war and everything that had been destroyed and what was being done to rebuild. He told them about the aid workers and all the progress they were making. And he asked Lois to thank Ultrawoman on behalf of the people in his town. She promised that she would.
It was almost dark when they walked back to the center of the town and the impressive feast spread out before them. The resilience of this place amazed her, but she still couldn't move beyond the fact that all of this effort shouldn't have been necessary. These people were putting their lives back together, but those lives should never have been pulled apart in the first place. This wasn't the result of a natural disaster or some other unavoidable catastrophe. The death and the suffering and destruction were all because of human malice –malice that had not been extirpated, only beaten back a ways. Lois turned toward her amiable guide. "After everything that happened here, how do you find things to celebrate?" she asked. "How do you still find hope?"
"Even in the worst situations, we still manage to find hope. It's what makes us human. It's what makes us divine," her host replied. "Even a bitterwood tree gives shade."
It was an old Kinwaran saying. One she'd heard many times over, but one that still didn't make sense to her. The poisonous tree was the enemy of farmer and herder alike, blasted out of the ground wherever it grew. With all the ways the bitterwood corrupted the earth and made life difficult, was the fact that it gave shade enough to justify its existence?
********
Rae Et personally decrypted and decompressed the data packet, not trusting a single one of her minions to handle the task. The messages were always extremely short and then compressed into extraordinarily tiny bursts, through dozens of random satellites along a circuitous path to make their origin and destination harder to trace. Once encrypted, the messages looked like nothing more than static. Even if they were intercepted and deciphered, they were always devoid of details. She looked at the single line of text on the screen in front of her:
Program inserted. Self-replication begun. Is he safe?
Her mouth turned up in a wry, half-smile at the last part of the message. Her agent was most definitely single-minded, but it served Rae Et's purposes, so she didn't particularly care. The agent was also particularly clever. The incriminating trail of activity had not simply been erased, it had been rerouted to a hapless junior engineer – too inexperienced to figure out what had happened, too new to be trusted. If anyone noticed any unusual activities, it would be traced back to this luckless individual, and not her agent.
The virus had been introduced into the main colony's separate defense and life support systems. It would quietly and unobtrusively copy itself, over and over, during the next few weeks, until it had wormed its way into every part of the network. They would wait until after the verdict. If he was sentenced to exile, they would have time before he could be transferred to the outerlands. If he was sentenced to serve his time in the main colony, it would still be a few days before he would be moved from pre-sentencing detention to the prison. That narrow margin was their window to act – when her son's location would be fixed, and the post-trial routine could be easily predicted. Then, at a single keystroke, the virus would begin its rapacious work, corroding and corrupting the systems it had infected. Defenses would be disabled and she would have a free hand to turn all of the colony's systems against it. It would provide a sufficiently time consuming diversion to allow for the rescue of her boy. With thin, bony fingers, she typed out her terse response:
He's fine. You'll see him soon.
Rae Et set the message to auto-send in twelve hours. It would do no good to have the back and forth chatter over the airwaves noticed by one of Rab Dun's engineers.
There was a soft, hesitant knock at the metal door. "Enter," Rae Et replied impatiently. The door opened and Jen Mai walked into the dim, drafty room. "What is it?"
"I just wanted to let you know, ma'am, that we've begun practice runs of the rescue mission, using the information from your source about where Nor is being held and the force being used to guard him."
"Good," she said tersely. "Anything else?"
"Well, yes, ma'am," Jen Mai stuttered irritatingly, his hands fidgeting in front of him in a nervous gesture.
"Then spit it out," she demanded.
"It's my brother," Jen Mai replied. The craven Son Mai. He had betrayed Nor at the first possible instant in order to save his own hide.
"What about him?"
Jen Mai swallowed audibly. "He's being held in the same detention compound as Nor. I know that he testified for the prosecution, but please understand that he had no choice, ma'am. He is still loyal, and I wanted to know if he will be freed in the operation."
"He is a useful tactician," Rae Et replied coolly. "I will give him another chance to prove his loyalty." With Jen Mai now assured of his brother's continued existence, perhaps now he would focus on doing his job properly.
A look of total relief settled on Jen Mai's face as he sighed. "Thank you, ma'am," he said breathlessly.
"Is that all?" she asked. She had precious little time and was not interested in wasting any more of it on this subject.
"Yes ma'am, thank you," Jen Mai said again as he bowed and backed out of the room.
********
He propped himself up on his elbow and smiled almost shyly at her as he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Wow," she whispered breathlessly. Perhaps the most curious thing she loved about her husband was his ability to render her completely inarticulate. She was a lawyer; argument – the rational, dispassionate advocacy of a position – was in her blood. And yet he managed to leave her incapable of expressing herself in anything more complex than contented sighs and reverently murmured, single word exclamations.
"Wow," he agreed. Her breath caught in her throat as he pulled her into his arms. He rolled them until he was lying on his back and looked up at her, grinning happily. She laughed as she tangled her hands in his soft hair, and kissed him. She felt him smile against her lips. "I love you," he said.
"I love you," Enza replied. She stretched out beside him, her head on his shoulder. He let his arm fall over her, his hand coming to rest against her hip. His thumb traced a distracting circle against her skin. She adored this – the early morning lovemaking with her husband, neither one of them worried about having to race off to a brutal, interminable day of work.
"We're always so…careful…when we make love," he said softly.
She frowned slightly, trying to divine his meaning. "Oh," she whispered quietly. She felt a small smile play at the corners of her lips. "Well, we've both been so busy; I just didn't think it was the right time…"
"To talk about having a baby, I know," he finished. "But the trial is over and we both said we wanted to have more children…"
"And I'm sure Thia would like to have a cousin." Enza reached up to touch his face. "So maybe we should talk about…being less careful," she said.
"Downright reckless," he replied with a smile as he closed the distance between them and captured her lips in a soft kiss. "Completely irresponsible." He kissed her again.
"Totally incautious," she whispered, inches from his lips. The thought of having a child with him—bringing a life into the world together—made her almost giddy. She'd expected to be nervous, to think about all the reasons why they weren't ready, why the timing was off, why they should wait, but in truth, she wanted this. Badly. Enza had never known if she'd wanted children before Thia came into her life. But raising her niece was the most important thing she'd ever done. She could think of nothing she wanted more than to add another little person to their family.
********
Perry dropped the sheaf of papers on his desk and looked up at her. She stood in front of him, waiting expectantly. The look on his face was unreadable. He hated it. "Lois, this is it," he said at last, a slow smile spreading across his face.
"What's it?" she asked, completely confused.
"This is your next book," he replied. "You gave us a glimpse of what's happening there now, what people are doing to rebuild their lives and move on, and I need to know more. I need the whole story. This is amazing, but it just whets the appetite."
The piece had been an incredible form of catharsis for her, just like writing down her thoughts for Jonathan and Martha to read had been. But if she was honest with herself, she wanted more, too. She wanted to know what was happening in other towns in Kinwara, wanted to see how life was changing there, and how she could help it along. She wanted to reestablish her ties to that country and its people, both as a Lois Lane, and as Ultrawoman. It wasn't a decision she should have made on the spur of the moment, but the instant Perry mentioned it, she knew it was right. This was the book she wanted to write – not a dark memoir of war and terror, but a testament to the power of hope. She felt herself smiling faintly. "I guess it's time to set up a meeting with the suits," she said.
Her old editor grinned at her. "I'll take care of it now," Perry replied.
********
Zara let her arm slip from Clark's as they entered their chambers. "Shai is thoroughly convinced," she said. "He'll be a powerful ally with the Council, his opinion carries tremendous weight."
"So does yours," Clark replied.
"Well, his may be seen as more objective since I have an obvious interest in whom I'm supposed to marry," she said with a faint smile.
"They'll confirm Ching," he assured her. Though he couldn't be any more certain of it than she was, his words were comforting. He unfastened the collar of his tunic; he always did seem to find it uncomfortable. The chain he wore around his neck snagged on the fabric. She watched as he gently lifted the delicate strand of metal. The small band of gold held between his fingers, he tucked the chain back under his clothing.
"I can't imagine how much you're looking forward to returning that to Lois," she whispered.
He gave her a ghost of a smile. "There's nothing in the world I want more." He grinned a bit too brightly. "So you've never told me how you fell in love with Ching," he said, changing the subject back to her.
She took off her overcoat and sat down. "I think I adored Ching the moment I met him. But I probably fell in love with him when I was eighteen. He was assigned to my staff not long after he returned from the Academy. And even though I was supposed to marry whoever the Council selected, I fell completely in love with him. Something about him always made sense to me, even when nothing else did. It took me almost two years to admit it to him. I was convinced he couldn't possibly have felt the same way, but he told me that he did. We started a relationship in secret, but apparently we weren't as circumspect as we'd thought. My father wasn't a military man, but he still had considerable connections and he saw that Ching was transferred."
He sat down in the chair next to hers. "You must have been so upset," he said.
She smiled. "At the time, I hated him for it, but he was probably right. We needed the time apart, or we never would have learned to make our responsibilities our priority."
"So you spent years pretending there was nothing between you?"
Zara nodded as she looked at her friend. "What choice did we have?"
"I don't think I could have done it. I tried ending things with Lois once." Off her questioning stare, he continued. "I thought her being with me was too dangerous – she was constantly a target because of Superman. But it only lasted a couple of weeks. I was so miserable I felt like I couldn't even breathe. Somehow, she managed to talk some sense into me."
"Even though you stopped pushing her away, you've still been separated all these years," she replied sadly.
"But I haven't lost her. I'm going to go home, and tell my wife how much I love her, and spend the rest of my life trying to make up for the last four years." And the reason he would be apologizing for the last four years was because she and Ching had dragged him away from a wonderful life and a family that adored him.
"You have helped us save this world, but we should never have asked you to come here. We should never have forced you to make these sacrifices."
He shook his head. "Lois and I made this decision. Of course, I hoped it wouldn't have taken this long, but I came knowing that I might not even be able to return home. I grew up, feeling lonely, despite having wonderful parents, because I didn't know where I belonged. Lois told me once that I'd never be alone again, and she was right. We're not physically together, but she is always with me." Clark had taken the chain out from under his tunic and was holding the ring tightly in his hand. She wondered if he knew that he'd done so, or if the action was subconscious.
Zara smiled. "We are both truly blessed, to have found people who love us, and who can tolerate the burdens that come with being with us."
"That's why I've always known that, of the two of us, Lois is the strong one. I made Superman into the person she expected him to be, who he was, what he stood for, it all came from her. Even though she didn't know it at the time." It was wonderful to see this side of Clark, the part of him that had been hidden under anger and aloofness and distance for so long. He was a kind, loving, and gentle man and even this world couldn't change that.
********
"What brings you here, Sergeant?" Talan said as she looked up from her soil samples.
"This is my latest billet, ma'am," Faral replied with a half smile.
She stood up and wiped the dirt from her hands. "They sent you here to do what? Guard the rocks I'm collecting?"
Faral laughed. "I promise they will be the safest rocks on New Krypton, ma'am. It'll be a fine duty to end my tour."
Talan began packing up her equipment and the little vials holding her samples. "So they are finally letting you out then? Perhaps you'll actually see your wife and daughters now."
"I plan on spending so much time at home that they tire of me," he replied.
She shielded her eyes from the bright sun overhead as she shouldered her equipment bag. "Come on, old friend, we have a good deal of catching up to do." Faral followed her up the hill to the laboratory her crew had set up. She stopped outside the small building, gazing out at the wide open expanse of land that stretched in front of them.
"I would have thought they would have you serving as chief of the general staff, or at least running the Academy, instead of out here collecting rocks and dirt, ma'am."
There was a glimmer of laughter in her suddenly insubordinate staff sergeant's eye. Talan frowned at him and he immediately grew more somber, standing up straighter, and puffing up his chest. She must have been going soft. "How many campaigns together was it for us?"
"All of them, ma'am," he replied simply. From the first fight to the very last one, they'd been together, beginning when she was a young officer, with her first combat command.
"How many times did you save my life?" she asked, even though she remembered them all.
"Almost half as many times as you saved mine."
She nodded and remained quiet for a long moment. "We saw a lot of trouble together, didn't we?"
"Aye, ma'am."
"May we never have to raise another weapon again, Sergeant."
"Hear, hear," he replied.
********
Rab Dun looked up from her desk as the two men entered the room. By Kryptonian standards, Rab Dun's office was a chaotic clutter. She preferred to be able to scrutinize and review each project carefully and kept the files and holograms where she could access them easily. The tables and shelves of her workspace were covered at all times, the files organized in a system only she could understand. "Welcome, gentlemen," she began. "Do we have any further information?"
Ching shook his head grimly. "The engineer we traced the improperly accessed files to claims he had nothing to do with them."
"I spoke to him this week," Lok Sim added. "He didn't seem like he was lying. He had no idea why the files were traced back to him."
"Could he have accessed them mistakenly?" Rab Dun asked.
The First Ministers' chief of staff clasped his hands behind his back. "It's a possibility," he replied. "And not an unlikely one."
She frowned, digesting this latest bit of information. "But you're not confident that this is our explanation?"
"No, ma'am," her communications engineer replied. "Neither one of us is satisfied that the inquiry is complete."
"So where does that leave our investigation?"
"Back at the very beginning, I'm afraid," Ching replied.
"Is there anything else you need to aid in your search?" she asked.
Lok Sim stared straight ahead, his eyes unblinking. "Full access to personnel files, ma'am."
Her own protocols meant that normally, she was the only person with complete access to those files – there was too much sensitive and private information contained within them. But the safety at the colony itself was at stake, and these were trustworthy men. "You will have it," she replied. "But I insist that you bring anything of interest to me before you act upon it."
Ching bowed formally. "Of course," he responded.
