Chapter Twenty-two
>>>Monday, 7:49 AM
From his desk, Clark watched Jimmy drag himself out of the elevator and plod heavily towards the coffee station. His eyes drooped and his hands couldn’t find the coffeepot handle on the first two tries, so Clark took pity on him and went over to help.
“Here, Jimster, let me help.”
“Huh? Oh, yeah, CK, thanks.” Then he opened his mouth in a champion yawn.
Perry strode past, full of energy and vigor. “Olsen! Eight o’clock, in my office! I have some things for you to do.” Perry paused and stared into Jimmy’s face. “Try not to pass out before you get there.”
Jimmy frowned as his boss pushed through the early morning arrivals. Clark grinned and asked, “So how was your date last night?”
Jimmy groaned. “Morgana plays viola for the Metropolitan Symphony.”
Clark nodded. “I knew that.”
“Did you know she has a rehearsal today at three PM, and that she doesn’t have anything else scheduled today until then? I didn’t. She also teaches viola at Troy State University, but her next session isn’t until ten o’clock tomorrow morning. I didn’t know that either.”
Clark smiled wider. “You’re saying that she kept you up late last night?”
“No. She kept me out and up until early this morning.” He yawned again. “I didn’t get home until about four-thirty and I’m beat. She’s a great dancer, though, and she taught me some moves I didn’t think I could do.” He blinked several times. “This is going to be a very, very long day.”
“It was worth it, though, wasn’t it, Jimmy?”
A weary grin appeared on the young man’s face. “Yeah. It was worth it.”
Just then Lois appeared on the ramp, wearing a Navy blue pantsuit and a no-nonsense expression. “Kent! My desk, now!”
And she strode off. Jimmy looked at Clark and whispered, “Good luck. I think I’d rather face the Chief when he’s really mad than the Mad Dog when she’s just mildly irritated.”
Clark nodded. “I think I agree with you.”
He meandered over to Lois’s desk and stood four feet away from the far side with his hands in his pockets. “So, Lois, how’s life treating you?”
She paused in her frantic scribbling and glanced up at him. “Fine. Why are you standing so far away?”
“Because I know that your bark is not worse than your bite.”
She twisted her mouth and wobbled her head at him in a brief but perfect Roseanne Barr imitation. “Funny, Kent, very funny.” She snapped back into full ‘reporter’ mode. “We have an interview with Dr. Samuel Platt at nine this morning. It’s south of Hobb’s Bay, so we – “
“What? What ‘we?’ When did this get scheduled?”
“Check your e-mail in the morning instead of trading football stories with Jimmy. I sent you a message about it Friday night before I left.”
“Oh. So, does Perry know about this meeting?”
“Of course he does. I copied him on the e-mail. We’re leaving at a quarter after, so get ready.”
“Okay.” He turned, then stopped. “Lois, you do know that the Metropolis Tigers are headed for the playoffs this year, don’t you?”
“Yeah. So what?”
“So it’s practically Jimmy’s and my civic duty to talk about football and what it will mean to the city and the state if they go all the way to the Super Bowl.”
She wore an exasperated expression. “Did you know that the Super Bowl got its name because one of the important team owners at the time thought the rubber Super Ball toy his kid was playing with sounded cool and he wanted a name that sounded cool so he picked Super Bowl because it sounded like Super Ball?”
He frowned. “You’re kidding.”
“Nope. Look it up if you doubt me.” She yanked a drawer open. “But do it after we finish with Platt.”
As soon as Lois sat down, it rang. “Lois Lane, Daily Planet.”
“Good morning, my dear Lois.”
Her frown immediately turned upside down. “Lex! How nice to hear from you, especially this early in the day.”
“Well, you told me Saturday evening that you weren’t exactly a morning person, so I thought I’d try to cheer you up a bit before you get too deep into your day.”
She leaned back in her chair and felt a warm tingling in her toes. “Thank you. That’s so very nice of you.”
“I must confess that I have an ulterior motive. I’d like to see you again. Very soon.”
This was most interesting. “How soon is very soon?”
“Oh, I would think that a Wednesday evening dinner in a very romantic spot would be soon enough.”
“Oh? Any particular reason to pick Wednesday?”
“Because by then, enough time will have passed so that I don’t seem quite so desperately eager to see you.”
She laughed softly. “Are you desperate, Lex?”
“No. But I am eager.” She laughed again. “I hope I’m not so eager that I frighten you away.”
“I’m not afraid of you. I can handle myself pretty well.”
He chuckled. “I daresay I agree with you. Shall we firm up plans for Wednesday evening, then?”
It was her turn to hesitate. “Yes. As long as you understand that you don’t have to chase me.”
“I don’t? Does that mean that the pursuit is over and you are mine forever?”
“No. It means that if I don’t want to get caught, I won’t get caught, by you or by anyone else.” A bit of steel slipped into her tone. “And you’d better not forget it, either, or I’ll sic Asabi on you.”
“Eek!” cried Luthor. “I do believe that you mean that.”
“You’d better believe it.”
“And I am comfortably certain that Asabi would strenuously defend your honor, even against my advances. He is quite taken with you, Lois.”
Her tone eased. “As long as you understand that I’m dating you, not him.”
“I promise to keep that fact in the forefront of my brain.”
She suddenly felt Clark’s mental presence. -* We have to leave now if we want to get to the lab by nine. *-
She glanced back at him and nodded. “Lex, I’m sorry, but I have to go interview someone. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”
“It will have to be later this evening. I have an out-of-town meeting this afternoon. But I’ll call you at home after dinner, if you’re agreeable.”
“I am most agreeable, kind sir. Good luck on your meeting.”
“Luck is preparation meeting opportunity.”
“Then I hope you’re prepared. Oops, gotta go if I don’t want to be late. We’ll talk later. Bye!”
She hung up and grabbed her windbreaker. “Okay, Kent, let’s go!”
*****
Lois pulled her Jeep into one of the visitors’ spaces near the main entrance. She and Clark popped out and marched up to the front door.
To avoid getting run over, Clark let Lois precede him. She leaned on the security desktop and barked, “Lois Lane and Clark Kent to see Dr. Samuel Platt.”
The older man behind the desk was not visibly impressed. “Do you have an appointment, ma’am?”
“Nine o’clock.”
He turned and picked up a clipboard. “You’re early. Dr. Platt likes that.” He set the board down on the desk. “Please sign in here and I’ll let him know that you’ve arrived.”
He pulled two guest badges as Clark and Lois scribbled their names on the sheet. “Please wear these clipped to your collar at all times. They’ll keep you from being arrested.”
Lois stopped short. “Arrested?”
“Yes, ma’am. This is a secure facility, and we’re doing some cutting-edge research here. If Dr. Platt hadn’t vouched for you both and helped us get started on your clearance, you would have had to come back some time later this week to take the tour.”
Trying to head off the impending eruption, Clark tugged on Lois’s arm. “Come on. We’ll wait over here for the good doctor.”
“No need, no need,” a booming voice answered. “I’m right here.” He turned to the security officer and said, “Thanks for the help, Walter.”
The man smiled and saluted with his pen. “No problem, Doctor. Have a good tour.”
Platt nodded. “If you two will put your badges on, we’ll begin.”
Clark realized that Platt was running a small scam on building security and began looking around like a tourist. -* Play it up a little, Lois. Act like we’re just here to look around. *-
-* I figured that part out already. You can be the curious, overwhelmed, ignorant hick from out of town, and I’ll be the laid-back, bored city dweller. It’ll be easier for both of us to stay in character. *-
He grinned quickly at her, then resumed his wide-eyed observations. True to her word, Lois remained quiet and apparently unimpressed.
Platt led them up a flight of stairs and stopped in front of a door marked ‘Static Lab – No Unauthorized Entry.’ He opened the door, led them in, and said, “Here is the lab I wanted you to see.” He closed the door and pointed at the life-sized mockup of the shuttle’s nose and the docking ring on the station, both suspended from the ceiling of the three-story room. It looked more like an aircraft hanger to Clark than a laboratory. “There. That’s what I wanted you to talk to you about.”
He pulled them along in his wake as he strode across the room. “Right there. You can see – Come on, get closer! It’s not going to fall over on you!”
Lois is suddenly a bit more cautious than normal, thought Clark. I wonder if she senses something I don’t.
Before he could ask her, either through their link or aloud, a woman’s voice rang out. “Samuel, I’m glad you’re here. I didn’t know you were giving tours today.”
An attractive young blond woman wearing a light blue lab coat stepped into the lab through another doorway. Platt called out, “Dr. Baines! Have you come to ask me about my reports?”
She smiled and nodded. “Yes, I have. Why don’t you tell me in person what you’re talking about? I think that would clarify your points in my mind.”
“Well – all right. Wait, do all of you know each other?”
Dr. Baines released a brilliant but arctic smile. “We’ve not been introduced. Would you do the honors, Samuel?”
“Of course. Dr. Baines, let me introduce Lois Lane and Clark Kent from the Daily Planet. Lois, Clark, this is Dr. Antoinette Baines, the lab’s executive manager.”
Baines stepped forward to shake their hands in turn. “From the city’s largest newspaper? I’m impressed.” She brushed Lois’s hand. “I’m pleased to meet you, Lois, and – ooh – I’m especially pleased to meet you, Clark.”
The touch of the blond doctor’s hand made Clark’s skin tingle slightly. -* Pull your tongue back into your mouth, Clark, you’re drooling on your tie. *-
His only response was a quick twist of his mouth. He wasn’t drooling, but Dr. Baines was a very attractive woman, and he was still a man. “I’m pleased to meet you too, Dr. Baines.”
“Please, Clark,” Baines purred, “call me Toni. Oh, you too, Lois.”
Lois stuck a plastic smile on her face and nodded. “Of course, Toni.”
Clark said, “Dr. Platt, could you tell us what it is you’re so concerned about?”
“What? Oh, yes, of course! Dr. Baines, have you read my memoranda?”
“No. I learned just this morning that you’ve sent a number of memos on this subject, but I haven’t had the time to read all of them yet. Why don’t you explain it to all of us at once? I’m sure our reporter friends can follow along, and if we get too technical we can stop and demystify it for them.”
Clark felt Lois bristle beside him. He took a quick step forward and said, “Uh, Dr. Platt, can we get started?”
“Yes, yes, of course!” He pointed to the nose cone of the shuttle hanging just over their heads. “One of the problems we face in docking the shuttle with the space station is static electricity. Have you ever walked across a nylon or silk carpet in the winter and then touched something metal and gotten a strong shock?”
Lois nodded and Clark followed suit. “Hurts, doesn’t it?”
Lois’s eyes narrowed. “Static electricity discharge. We all know about that. And your point is?”
“It works much the same in space, except the shuttle builds up a much higher potential, both because it’s such a large craft and because it can’t easily discharge it. There’s no effective conductor to allow the charge to escape. If you walked across that nylon carpet and then stood perfectly still for a while, the ions you’ve attracted will slowly bleed away, either back into the carpet through your shoes or into the atmosphere.”
Clark’s eyebrows rose. “But because there’s no place for the charge on the shuttle to go – except to the station – you risk electrical problems, computer malfunctions, system damage – “
Toni clapped her hands together. “Exactly, Clark! I knew you’d get it quickly.”
Clark felt Lois’s irritation grow. He sent, -* Relax, okay? I know she’s flirting with me and I promise not to respond. *-
-* Good. For my part, I promise not to kill her. *-
Clark licked his lips to conceal his amusement. Platt went on, “This lab is experimenting with ways to safely discharge that electrical potential without sending the station into shock. The original system doesn’t always work properly, and this is apparently the first time my messages have made it up the corporate ladder to Dr. Baines.”
She turned to Platt. “And I assure you, Samuel, that I will be taking a personal interest in your experiments from now on.” She took his hand in both of hers. “I’m so glad we have someone with your determination and intelligence working on this problem. I’m confident that we’ll come up with a viable solution very quickly.”
Platt’s embarrassed grin made Lois roll her eyes. Clark held back a bigger smile as he asked, “Dr. Baines – I’m sorry, Toni – can we get some background information on this problem? What we have now is great, but we’ll need to flesh out our article quite a bit.”
“Of course. Do you see that clear glass sphere on the platform behind the docking port?” They nodded. “That’s where we can generate up to three hundred million volts of electricity to test the various materials and configurations Samuel is using to fix this most vexing problem.”
-* She mispronounced ‘hexing,’ Clark. *-
-* Well, she is rather bewitching, don’t you think? *-
-* Do NOT go there, Kent! *-
He hid his grin yet again. “Is there any possibility you could give us a demonstration?”
Toni showed them all of her molars. “Of course, Clark. Tell you what, why don’t you and Lois stand behind the control panel with Samuel? That way you can see what he’s doing.”
Platt tilted his head. “Are we doing the no-amp demo again?”
Toni nodded. “If we don’t, I’ll be flash-fried. You will be careful, won’t you, Samuel?”
-* If she doesn’t quit distracting him, he might accidentally kill her, *- sent Lois.
-* Let’s hope not. *-
-* Why? Are you thinking of asking her out? *-
-* Are you? *-
-* Don’t go THERE either, Kent! *-
Platt turned and gestured for them to follow. Baines climbed to the platform and put her hands on the glass sphere. “This instrument is called a Van de Graff generator,” she said in her tour guide voice. “In this demonstration, we’re using it as a contact point. When Samuel releases the electrical charge, I will have my hands on this glass sphere, and three hundred thousand volts of electricity will shoot through my body. You’ll be able to see the tendrils of electricity jumping from the core of the sphere to the surface where my hands will be. But I won’t be harmed, because the charge will have effectively zero amperage behind it. Right, Samuel?”
“That’s right, Dr. Baines.” He flipped several switches, turned two dials, and carefully set a foot-long razor switch beside his left hand labeled ‘Ground Shunt.‘
He turned to Lois and Clark and pointed at the switch. “Don’t touch that.”
Lois lifted her hands and took a half-step back. “I’m not touching anything, I promise!”
“Good. That’s what redirects the amperage and keeps the subject on the platform safe.” He turned back to the platform. “Are you ready, Dr. Baines?”
She put both hands on the glass sphere. “Ready, Dr. Platt.”
“Here goes.” Platt flipped a switch on his right. Immediately, Toni Baines let out a banshee howl and began bouncing her feet on the floor, her hands glued to the glass sphere. Her blouse puffed out beneath her lab coat and her short blond hair stood out in all directions.
Platt glanced down and said calmly, “Oops. Must have set that switch wrong.”
“Stop it!” screamed Lois. “You’re killing her!” She spun and looked at her partner. “Clark, can’t you do something?”
He reached for his tie, but before he could do anything else, both Baines and Platt began laughing hysterically. Platt shut down the electrical feed and leaned on the console, still laughing. Baines patted her hair down and skipped off the platform onto the floor.
She managed to restrain herself long enough to say, “I’m – I’m sorry! It’s a game – ha-ha-ha – a game we play with the new directors and some visitors. Haven’t done that in – ho-ho-ho-ho – in weeks!”
Lois shook her head in relief mixed with a large dose of irritation. “I take it that you aren’t dead?”
Baines leaned against the console with one hand behind her and fluttered her other hand as if waving air at her face. “No, not even a little bit. Except for a little tingle on the fingers, I didn’t feel anything.”
Platt turned around, still chuckling. “Oh, my! I’m sorry, but we don’t get many chances to play jokes on people here in the lab. All of the non-scientists here have already heard about the gag, and the scientists and technicians already understand it, of course, so we tend to pull it on visitors.”
“Uh-huh. Well, if you don’t mind, Clark and I have more important things to do than watch supposedly responsible scientists play practical jokes on unsuspecting visitors.” She started towards the door. “Don’t call us, we’ll call you.”
Platt called out, “Miss Lane, wait!”
Baines hurried to block her path to the door. “Please, Lois, forgive us for such a mean practical joke. I’m sorry, truly I am. Samuel really does do productive work here, and if he says there’s a problem with the static discharge system, I believe him. I don’t suppose reporters play jokes on each other occasionally?”
Lois crossed her arms and opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say anything, Clark sent, -* Does the name ‘Godzilla’ mean anything to you? *-
She cringed visibly. He could tell that she’d had no idea that he knew about her practical joke on Claude back in the spring, when she’d sent him on a wild goose chase in the city dump for a non-existent tape recording regarding a story she was working on, and one which he was trying to appropriate for himself. Lois had placed a four-foot tall Godzilla doll holding a sign which read ‘Bad Guys Wuz Here’ at the end of the series of clues she’d left.
Claude hadn’t come back that evening. He’d stopped trying to take her stories after that episode, too, although perversely he’d seemed to consider the prank as an encouragement to woo her.
She’d had to put her foot down on that, also. Right on his instep.
Her expression softened as she thought about it. A little bit, anyway. “Okay – Toni. Let’s see what else you can do.”
Baines smiled like a talk-show host during her opening monologue and led Lois to the platform. “Maybe you could get a feel for, um, how it feels from up here. If you don’t mind, we’ll send the charge into you and let you experience it.”
Lois stopped. “Hey, I don’t know about that – “
Clark nodded. “I’m game. Lois, you don’t have to do this if it makes you uncomfortable.”
She cocked an eyebrow at him. “Anything you can do, Kansas, I can do at least as well, if not better.”
He looked pointedly at her head. “Well, your hair is a little longer than mine. It should stand out quite well.”
“Excellent!” Baines stepped in front of the console and reset the board. “Please put your hands on the sphere.”
“Both hands?”
“You can if you want to, Lois, but only one hand is necessary. Let me know when you’re ready.”
Clark eyed Platt, who was looking over the board from Baines’s right. He put his right hand on the sphere and covered Lois’s right hand with his left. “We’re ready, Toni.”
-* What’s the matter, Clark? Don’t you trust me to stay put? *-
-* Just offering some reassurance, Lois. *- He gently rubbed the scar on the back of her hand with his thumb, and she gave him a small smile in return.
Baines nodded and began the same procedure Platt had gone through moments before. But just as she reached for the switch to send the charge into Lois and Clark, Platt pointed at the board and shouted, “The ground shunt is open!”
Clark glanced at Lois, whose eyebrows began drawing together.
Then the electricity hit them with the force of a lightning bolt.
*****
Baines intercepted Platt’s desperate lunge for the ground shunt switch and kicked his legs out from under him. She drew a small pistol from her pocket and pointed it at him.
He stared at her, open-mouthed with astonishment. “Dr. Baines! What – what are you – “
“I’m killing them, Samuel.” She pulled the trigger twice. The pistol cracked sharply and two small holes appeared in the center of Platt’s lab coat. “And I’m killing you, too.”
She watched Platt’s eyes fade to black and smiled. “Nigel will be so pleased.”
It was the last thing she said before the bombs exploded.
