PREVIOUSLY...
Clark hesitated. Dr. Klein didn’t know about the powers, and since at the moment, he didn’t have the powers, maybe he could just leave that part out. But... No. Right now, Dr. Klein held his life, his secret in his hands... Or did he? “First, answer me a question. How many other people know what you told me?”**AND NOW...
* * * * * * * * *
Chapter Thirteen
* * * * * * * * *
**“No one,” Dr. Klein responded immediately. “As soon as I realized what I was looking at I destroyed the tests. I wanted to talk to you first.”
“So you’re still considering telling people?”
“Mr. Kent, I’d like to take this moment to point out that this room has surveillance cameras. If you do anything to me, your secret might still be safe, but you won’t walk out of here free.”
Clark crinkled his eyebrows, his eyes going to the camera hanging in the far corner. What was Dr. Klein saying? “I would never hurt you,” Clark burst out. “What would ever give you that idea?”
“I don’t have any ideas, Mr. Kent. Not yet. But that’s why I wanted to talk to you first. To find out what your intentions are. But I warn you, Mr. Kent, that if I’m not satisfied with the answers...”
“Okay. Okay. I get it.” Clark took a deep breath. Full disclosure. It was the only chance he had. And looking into Dr. Klein’s eyes right now, he realized that the man was as sharp as a whip. He might tend to blunder around most of the time like an absent-minded professor, but behind all that, was a sharp mind. So... full disclosure. “So... where were we? You wanted to know why I quit worrying so much about being some sort of Russian spy?”
Dr. Klein nodded.
“Well, because I realized that... there were other ways I was different.”
“How so? Other than your blood, and your dense molecular structure, I didn’t see any differences.”
Clark immediately looked down at his body. From the way Dr. Klein was talking, he almost expected so see himself lying there naked. Suddenly, all the images about being dissected like a frog on some scientist’s table came flooding back.
He looked back at Dr. Klein who now seemed to be blushing from where his shirt was open at his neck to the top of his not-so-hairy head. “No. No. I didn’t mean... I mean, I haven’t. You just... Well, you look human enough to me. Or are you saying...”
“No. No. Nothing like that,” Clark responded feeling heat rising in his cheeks as well.
“Oh, well. Not that I...”
“Me either...”
“Good. Good. So.. what were you about to say?”
What had he been about to say? Oh, right. The powers. Except... “Dr. Klein, what I’m about to tell you... Well, it’s going to be a little hard to believe. And at the moment... After my exposure to... that rock, I guess... I can’t exactly prove it.”
“So that crystal did something to you? Besides almost killing you, that is?”
“I almost died?” Clark said, distracted by this new revelation. “I didn’t even know I could die.”
Dr. Klein nodded. “We almost lost you before we could get you out of that room.”
“Then why not just take the rock out of the room?”
Dr. Klein blinked. “Actually, that never occurred to me. Sort of a case of how to untie the Gregorian knot, huh? Never even occurred to me to search for another method. Although, even if I had, I’m not sure I’d have wanted to do that.”
“Why not?”
“Witnesses, my boy. No one knew that was what was affecting you. Even I wasn’t sure. Moving you was more of a precaution. After all, we’ve just started testing on the S-126. For all I knew, you had a reaction to it because you had brown eyes or hair or... Well, at the time, I really didn’t know what to think. Anyway, as you were saying, that rock did something to you.”
“Right,” Clark said. “Well, before I encountered that rock... I sort of had these unusual powers.”
“What type of powers?”
“I was very strong. As in superhuman strong. And fast. As in able to outrun a locomotive fast. And... I could fly.”
Dr. Klein looked at Clark for a long moment before his expression suddenly cleared. “As in able to fly out into space fly and push an asteroid off course strong?”
“Something like that,” Clark said, finally able to rise to sit on the couch.
Dr. Klein nodded as if all his questions had suddenly been answered. He rose to his feet. “Well, my boy, you just sit here for a minute and recover. I’ve got some tests to check on. I’ll meet you in my office in ten minutes.” He walked to the door.
“Wait, Dr. Klein?”
“Yes?” Klein said, turning back towards him.
“So... what are you going to do?”
“I told you I had some tests to...”
“No. About me?”
“About you?” Klein looked confused.
“Are you going to tell people?”
“Of course not!” Klein said indignantly. “Haven’t you ever heard of doctor patient confidentiality?”**“So he kept your secret?” Lois said, letting out a breath of relief. “What made him decide that?”
“I asked him when we met again a few minutes later. He said that since everyone on Earth now owed me their lives, he didn’t think there was any point in destroying mine.”
“Have I ever told you that I love that man.”
Clark smiled. “Careful. I might get jealous. But... well, that brings up a possibility.”
“What?”
“It’s just... obviously I trust Dr. Klein in this reality. What if we went to him, told him that we changed the past and asked for his help?”
Lois chewed on her lower lip for a moment before responding. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea. At least not yet. There are too many things about this altered reality that we don’t yet know. What if Dr. Klein did betray you and we just can’t remember it yet? Clark, as much as I hate to say this, before we involve anyone else, I think we need to know more. I feel like I’m wandering around in the dark in this reality.”
Clark nodded slowly. He, too, felt as if he were slugging his way through this reality without a road map. Things were obviously quite different. Maybe they should wait until they understood what was going on a little better.
“Still...” Lois said slowly. “...I’m concerned that maybe we’re going about this search all wrong.”
“How so?”
“Well, the further we go, the further away we get from the moment when we changed the past, the less likely we are to get the answers we need.”
“So what are you suggesting?”
“That we go back... starting in April of 1992... and see if we can find anything that happened during that year before you came to the Planet that might jog our memories.”
Clark nodded. “Good idea. So, I’ll look in The Star.”
“And I’ll look in the Daily Planet. If you see anything that stirs up a memory, let me know.”
With that they began their search of the year before Clark had come to the Planet - expanding their search from the two major Metropolis papers to other more specialized papers. An hour later, they both stopped, exhausted and disappointed.
“Nothing!” Lois said in frustration. “How is that possible? How could we find nothing that jogs our memories about changes to that preceding year?”
“Maybe whatever... happened wasn’t reported.”
Lois leaned her head back, resting it on the back of the chair as she stared at the ceiling. “So we keep going forward,” she said at last.
“We keep going forward,” Clark confirmed.
“So what happened next?” Lois asked, feeling discouraged. It might be interesting to learn how things were different in this altered reality, but what she really wanted was to solve the mystery so that they could get back to Vicky. Was that really too much to ask?
“Well, let’s see...” Clark said. “After I felt a bit stronger, I met with Dr. Klein in his office and he brought up an obvious problem. The kryptonite. Of course, he was still calling it S-126. As he put it, my reaction to it proved that the crystal wasn’t completely benign - and as Dr. Klein pointed out, we had no way of knowing if I was the only alien on Earth or if others had been sent here for whatever reason as well. [see ‘Northern Lights’ by Gerry Anklewicz at
http://www.lcfanfic.com/stories/2005/northern.txt <g>]
“He was planning, as well, once he realized that I was vulnerable to the kryptonite... uhh, S-126 to cancel the tests.”
“Good!”
“I told him not to do it.”
“What?” Lois exclaimed.
“Lois, free electricity. Something that wouldn’t damage the environment and yet would produce electricity. How could I deny the world such a discovery? So I told him to go ahead with the tests and...” He shrugged.
Lois looked puzzled for a moment. “I know about this,” she finally said. “After your article came out, there was quite a buzz. As you said, free... or almost free power. I think everyone in the world was talking. So Perry put me on the story.”
“And...?”
Lois let out a slow breath, gathering her thoughts before proceeding.
**Okay, so it was a big story. She understood that. Still, it was a science story. And science stories tended to be dry, boring and not the least bit interesting to investigate. Give her a good, old fashioned murder any day of the week. After all, as everyone in the news business knew: if it bleeds it leads. Still, she left for Star Labs and her appointment with Dr. Klein. She was just getting out of her taxi when she saw Kent step out the front door.
She dashed to the side of the building, attempting to stay out of his line of sight. She hoped her note had made it clear enough - that although she appreciated his assistance, this didn’t mean they could be friends. Because when it came down to the crunch, she just didn’t trust him. She couldn’t.
He stumbled slightly before regaining his balance. Was he sick? She watched his careful steps as he staggered to the taxi she had just vacated. Once the door was closed and the taxi moved away from the curb, she abandoned her hiding place, watching the taxi and wondering about his pale face, uncertain steps and trembling hands...**“Hey, you were worried about me?” Clark said, interrupting her.
“I was not.”
Clark’s eyebrows rose.
“Okay, so maybe a little. After all, you’d saved my life - both times Mr. Makeup attacked me. And you gave me a place to crash. Don’t read any more into it than that, lover boy.”
Clark smiled and Lois returned to her story.
**Lois entered Star Labs, walking up to the front desk. “I’ve got an appointment with Dr. Klein.”
“Just have a seat please. Dr. Klein will be down shortly. He called and said something had come up and he’d be a few minutes.”
Lois nodded and took a seat, picking up a copy of The Star lying on the coffee table in order to peruse Kent’s story once again. How he had stumbled across this, she’d never know. But if it were true... Well, it was sort of an exciting thought. Pennies on the dollar for electricity. No more feeling as if she’d just been robed when she filled up her gas tank or opened her electric bill. In her mind, she began thinking what she might do with all that extra money.
“Ms. Lane?”
Lois instantly rose to her feet, her eyes taking in the older gentleman in the white lab coat standing in front of her. “Dr. Klein?” she asked.
He nodded and she immediately stuck out her hand.
“Thanks for waiting for me,” he said, taking the offered hand and shaking it briefly.
“Thank you for seeing me.”
“Right. Right,” he said distractedly. “Now... what were you here to talk to me about again?”
“This miracle source of electricity,” Lois said. Surely there wasn’t anything else as exciting going on at Star Labs today - at least not if the Star’s story was accurate.
“Right. S-126.”
“S-126?”
“That’s what we’re affectionately calling it. The official name of the crystal is Smallvillium since it was found in Smallville, Kansas. But the element that is new is Element 126. So...”
“S-126,” Lois said, watching Dr. Klein closely.
Something was wrong. Oh, he hadn’t said it. But something was definitely bothering him. His comments seemed rehearsed - as if he were saying them by rote.
“Well,” he said, “why don’t we go to my office? I imagine you have a few questions.”
Lois’ mind was drifting a few minutes later as Dr. Klein proceeded to answer her latest question. She took copious notes, but she couldn’t seem to get really excited about what she was being told.
Suddenly, she realized the problem. They were talking, arguably, about one of the biggest advances in recent science and Dr. Klein didn’t look or sound excited.
As soon as she had the thought, she knew she was right. She continued to watch as he methodically answered her questions, but at this point, she was watching more to take note of her rather remarkable discovery about Dr. Klein than anything else.
“Dr. Klein,” she finally said, “this sounds like one of the biggest discoveries in the past century.”
“Oh, it is. It is,” he assured her.
“Then why don’t you sound excited about it? You almost sound... I don’t know. Depressed maybe?”
“Oh, I assure you, Ms. Lane. I’m excited. Quite excited.” He seemed to be trying to inject some excitement into his voice, but her first thought was that he should never try acting because he wasn’t very good at it.
“Oh, fine,” she responded, instead of pointing out her observation. “I was wondering... Could I see it?”
“What?” Klein almost looked horrified by the suggestion.
“I’d like to get a picture of it to go with my story. Maybe with you in it, too,” she added to sweeten the offer.
“Oh, no. No. Not possible. Too dangerous.”
“But Mr. Kent’s article was very clear that there was nothing dangerous about S-126. That was one of the great things about it. A source of nuclear power without any of the hazards.”
“Oh, it is, I assure you. But... What I meant to say was that we’re not set up to show it to the public at the moment. We’re running tests and... Yes! That’s it. The tests we’re running are too dangerous.”
His genuine excitement when he seemed to find a rational explanation for not allowing her to see the crystal made her even more suspicious.
“Anyway,” Dr. Klein said, rising quickly to his feet. “That’s really all the time I have. I’ll have my assistant see you out. Clyde?” he called into the other room.
A young man immediately appeared in the doorway. “Yes, Dr. Klein?”
“Would you show Ms. Lane out?” he asked. When Clyde nodded, Dr. Klein quickly said his good-byes and stepped past her out of his office, leaving Lois with the distinct impression that he was fleeing the scene of the crime. She felt an instant impulse to tackle him, fighting it back just in time.**“So he had just finished his... episode with me before he saw you,” Clark said. “That must be what distracted him.”
Lois nodded. Knowing what had just happened before she’d arrived, made her interview with the doctor make sense to her now. At the time, it had been anything but clear.
**What was he hiding? And why was she being given the bum’s rush? Maybe a little illicit trip back here tonight was just what the ‘doctor’ ordered? She looked around at all the security measures as she was led down the hall - or maybe not. Maybe this would take a lot more thinking.
Clyde led her through the front door and then, just when she thought he was about to turn to go inside, he suddenly grabbed her arm, leading her over to the side of the building. It flashed through her mind to fight back. Maybe when Dr. Klein had said to ‘show her out’ what he’d really been saying was ‘to get rid of her.’ But as quickly as the idea to pull away came, she dismissed it. Not because she couldn’t take Clyde. She was sure she could. But if she did that, she’d never know what he might say before he tried to do the dastardly deed. That would be the time to fight back - when she knew more.
He pulled her to a stop outside the security camera’s view and looked nervously around before turning to her. “Ms. Lane,” he said, “do you protect your sources?” he asked.** “Here it is!” Lois said excitedly.
“What?”
“The story,” Lois responded, pointing to her screen. “Electrical Miracle Not Quite a Miracle?”
Clark got up from in front of his computer and came over to look over her shoulder while she read.
“A source inside Star Labs claims that Smallvillium, the miraculous source of safe energy that the world became aware of yesterday, might not be as safe as officials are claiming. Apparently, an unnamed individual collapsed and almost died when coming into contact with the substance, benignly known as S-126.”
Lois looked back over her shoulder at her husband. “You know, as soon as he told me what had happened, I thought about you - and how you had looked coming out of the building. I expected to see a similar article in The Star the next morning. In fact, I can remember thinking that since you appeared to be the ‘unnamed individual’ - at least if your appearance coming out of Star Labs was any indication - that your story would be better than mine. You’d have all the gory details.
“I was very surprised when no such article appeared. Of course, in the days that followed, I tried to get more information. I just knew there was more to the story than they were telling us. And yet no other publication even hinted at any problems. I was furious when Perry finally took me off the story.”
“So you were trying to protect me even when you didn’t know that you were protecting me?” Clark said with a twinkle in his eyes.
“Hey, don’t get any ideas,” Lois instantly responded. “I was just trying to get the story. After all, The Star wasn’t telling us the truth.”
“Okay, so why don’t we see what comes next?” Clark said.
“Right.”
They were both silent for a moment as they scrolled through their respective screens.
“Hey, I got the Ladderman story,” Clark said after a moment.
“Eugene Ladderman?” Lois asked, jumping up from her computer to look at his. “How did you get that? Ladderman was my story? I hid him at my apartment when he was on the lam.”
Clark shrugged. “I guess I scooped you,” he said playfully.
“Hmph,” she responded, reaching over his shoulder to take control of his mouse. She scrolled quickly through the story. “Well, it’s all there. I guess you’re right. You got the story.” She almost sounded disbelieving. “But then I was a little distracted at the time. I was still thinking about how to get the S-126 story. So maybe I wasn’t on the top of my game.”
Clark rolled his eyes and smiled. She would always be Lois, and to tell the truth, he wouldn’t have her any other way. “I think that was about the time that Carpenter purchased The Metropolis Star,” Clark said after a moment.
“Preston Carpenter? What about Linda? Did she come to work for The Star, too?”
“Yeah. We became partners.”
Lois instantly bristled.
“She’s not worth it, honey,” Clark said soothingly, reaching over to take his wife’s hand. He stroked the back of it with his thumb, attempting to relax it from the fist she’d curled it into. “This isn’t reality. And besides, just because we were partners at work doesn’t mean that we were partners in any other sense of the word. I was in love with you, remember?”
“And I was completely hostile to you,” she shot back. “Are you honestly trying to tell me that in that situation you would be completely immune to her ‘charms’?” Lois managed to make the last word sound like a curse.
“Let’s just not jump to any conclusions, okay. We’ll deal with it if it happens. Because whatever we might learn in this reality, you’re the one I’m going home with tonight.”
Lois finally relaxed. “Okay, so I guess the place to start is to look for our story... or the story since we don’t know which one of us might have written it, about Carpenter’s fall from grace. What was the headline again?”
“New Age Kane Nipped in Bud,” Clark said, already scrolling through the stories on his computer.
“Ha ha. Cute.” Even as Lois spoke, she began looking for the same story on her computer. “Nothing,” she said after a moment. “My next big story is about cloning. Apparently, Dr. Fabian Leek was getting hair samples from important or powerful men and women and cloning them. Politicians. Military men. Brilliant scientists. The clones only lived a short period, but they were causing all sorts of havoc while they were alive, passing bills, making military decisions - that sort of thing. Nothing about cloning Superman, though.”
“That’s probably because there wasn’t a Superman to clone,” Clark said. “But I just noticed something else.”
“What?”
“Well, not only isn’t there a story here about Carpenter’s fall from grace. There are none of the stories leading up to it. No elevator crash. No fire in an apartment building. So what happened? There is no way anything we did to the past could have changed Carpenter’s dreams of controlling the world.”
“Maybe not, but what if...”
“What if what?”
“Well, it’s just theory. But when you and I were partners, we were unbeatable.”
“Granted. But what... Oh, I get it. When our Carpenter took over The Star, it hadn’t scooped us in all the time I had been working here.”
“But with you at The Star - especially after your two big scoops - kryptonite energy and Eugene Ladderman - maybe Carpenter was content to see what he could do legitimately, rather than take the risk of doing things illegally.”
“Maybe that’s even why he hired Linda,” Clark continued. “After all, she had quite a reputation at The Washington Post before coming to work for The Star.”
“Yeah, I’ll bet,” Lois mumbled. “Question is: what type of reputation?”
Clark sighed, turning his attention back to his computer.
“Oh, wait!” Lois said. “I think I’m remembering something about that time.”
“What?”
Lois waved him off as she struggled to get a grasp onto the illusive memory. “I’d just had another fight with Perry about the S-126 story. He told me that if I could come up with a new approach, he’d ‘consider’ putting me back on it. So I went to the Press Club, hoping a change of scenery would stimulate me. As I ate dinner, I was scribbling ideas in my notebook - not exactly good ideas, but... I was hoping to stimulate something. That’s when I heard you.”
“Me?”
“Yeah. And Linda.”
**What was ‘she’ doing here? Lois looked up from her supper at the sound of a laughing couple entering the Press Club. Lois had thought Linda King was still in Washington, sleeping with politicians in order to get the inside scoop on the Washington scene.
Her eyebrows rose when she realized exactly who Linda was with. No. This was all of her worst nightmares come true. God, if they both realized they knew her... She could just imagine Kent’s laughter as Linda told him about her and Paul, followed by Linda’s laughter when Kent told her that she had thrown herself at him, too. He’d probably even conveniently leave out the part where she was stoned on that damnable pheromone compound at the time.
Oh, yeah. They would have a good laugh over that one. Having her naked in his bed when he finally told her that he wasn’t interested.
Men were such pigs.
Not that Linda was any better. But then, being willing to do anything to get a story did have its advantages - if one didn’t have to look at herself in the mirror the next morning.
For all Lois knew, Linda and Clark had been together in this from the start. Yes. Things were starting to come together now. Linda had probably even been the woman with Clark when he pulled that little stunt that caused her so many problems.**“What?” Clark said, interrupting her. “What stunt are you talking about? And what woman?”
“I don’t know, Clark. That’s just how I remember my thoughts at the time. Anyway, I suddenly wanted to be anywhere but there. After all, even if you hadn’t been working together to ‘pull that little stunt,’ I didn’t particularly want to have you both realize you knew me and start swapping stories. So I raised my newspaper to cover my face as you passed. It didn’t work.”
“I remember,” Clark said, picking up the story for Lois.
**“Lois Lane? Is that you?” Linda said, stopping right in front of her table.
Lane’s smile looked strained and her eyes were hostile as she lowered the newspaper. What Clark didn’t know was if that look were meant for Linda or for him. He had hoped they’d at least gotten past the blatant hostility phase with her spending the night - or at least part of it - at his apartment. But the look he got when Lane’s eyes briefly met his indicated otherwise.
“Linda King,” Lane said. “What rock did you crawl out from under?”
“You two know each other?” Kent asked. Maybe the look hadn’t been directed at him, after all.
“Oh, yes. Lois and I know each other quite well. We were roommates in college. Still as personable as ever, I see, Lois, and...” Linda looked pointedly at the table as if searching for some invisible dinner companion. “...still eating alone. Lois always did have problems attracting men.”
Clark cringed at the phony sympathy he could hear in Linda’s voice, as she pretended to confide in Clark in a voice loud enough for Lane to hear.
“At least I have taste,” Lane responded, looking pointedly at Kent.
Clark crinkled his eyebrows. Had that comment been a dismissal of Linda’s taste... or his?
“Ahh... so you and Clark know each other, do you?” Linda said. “We’ll have to talk,” she added to Clark even as she slipped an arm through his.
Clark shifted slightly, uncomfortable with the impression Linda was obviously trying to give Lane. He’d just asked Linda if she would like to have dinner here because they had recently been made partners and he’d found out that her things weren’t due to arrive from Washington until next week. Knowing she was living at a motel, and remembering what that was like, he’d suggested grabbing some dinner together.
“Anyway, since we don’t want to keep you from your...” Linda glanced at the table. “...notepad, I guess we should find our own table,” Linda said, pulling a reluctant Clark along with her as she followed the path the hostess had taken some time before.**“Lois, were you jealous?” Clark asked.
She opened her mouth to deny his accusation before looking into his eyes. She instantly closed her mouth. He wasn’t just teasing her. He honestly wanted to know.
“I don’t know exactly what I was,” she admitted, trying to think back. “I guess part of me was. I mean, you’d made it fairly clear that you were interested. But I guess I figured you were just interested in sleeping with me - wishing you’d finished what we’d started during the time I was under the influence of the pheromone compound. Still, it had been... kind of flattering. And then to see you with Linda...”
Clark nodded.
“Anyway, for some reason, I no longer found the Press Club inspiring. And given the way you two kept looking in my direction, I knew you were talking about me.”
“I wasn’t talking. She was.”
“What did she say?” Lois asked, cringing slightly.
“She just told me about your friendship and how it ended when Paul chose her instead of you.”
“I’m sure she didn’t put it quite that... diplomatically.”
“Okay, so maybe not. But it doesn’t matter, Lois.”
‘What did she say?”
Clark let out a breath. “Okay, so she kind of said that you chased him shamelessly until he finally... gave in. And then, the next morning, got all bent out of shape when he told you it was a mistake and then blamed her when he started pursuing her instead.”
“Why that no good, lying...”
“Lois, it doesn’t matter.” He leaned over, kissing her until he felt her relax. “It doesn’t matter,” he said again.
Taking his words at face value, she finally nodded. “Okay, so... I guess seeing you and Linda together got me thinking. Lex had been pursuing me on and off since the White Orchard Ball. I’d gone out with him a few times. I always knew it wasn’t serious, but we had fun together. He was good company. Anyway, he’d called me a few days before and I hadn’t returned his call so when I got home, I did.”
It was Clark’s turn to tense.
“What happened at the Press Club made me realize that I needed a life. All I’d been doing since the pheromone incident was thinking about what had almost happened - and what it might have been like if you hadn’t stopped us.”
“That’s all I’d been thinking about, too.”
“But I desperately wanted to stop thinking about it. Lex seemed a way to do it. Besides, I still hadn’t come up with a way to find out what the problem was with S-126. And so, with everything... I just wanted to have a little fun and relax. Lex seemed like a good way to do both.”
TO BE CONTINUED...
