Last time:
Clark
Was the best thing for them Mom and Dad together?
Probably, but only if we really wanted to be together. Contentious parents who fought non-stop or ignored each other or otherwise modeled behavior that we wouldn’t want them to grow up thinking was normal probably wasn't a good plan.
I sighed. I didn't think I'd come to a solution watching a colonial transport launch.
My thoughts were interrupted by the T minus ninety minutes statement.
I wondered if Van-El was around – just in case something did happen – that the end of whatever this was hadn't ended with Baines death.
I sincerely hoped he was around – especially if that was Lois I'd seen getting on that ship.
Just because she'd moved out, because we'd said our marriage would end once the threat from Navance was over, didn't mean I wanted anything bad to happen to her.
Whatever it was she was doing, I hoped she knew what she was getting into and I hoped she knew how to get out.
The feeling in my gut was intensifying the closer we got to launch.
But what exactly was I supposed to do about it?
*~*139*~*
~~~~~
Lois
~~~~~
Talk about boring.
But tense, nerves on edge, sitting on the edge of your seat boring.
Platt had hissed at me and motioned me into a small galley.
"You're going to be sitting in this galley," he told me as he opened another door. "There's a jump seat over there. Mostly for now, you need to try to stay out of sight."
"Then how am I supposed to keep an eye out for anything suspicious?"
"Right now, that's my job."
I sighed. "Fine."
He pointed towards a door. "That's an electrical room. If you need somewhere to hide, that's the place. There's a jump seat in there, too."
I nodded. "Okay. Is there anything I should be doing to make myself look like I belong?"
"No. Just stay hidden."
With that he left.
I poked around in the cabinets to see what I could find. Nothing very interesting, unfortunately – not even bags of peanuts. Apparently, all the food was the dehydrated space food stuff. We'd probably be drinking Tang the whole time.
It shouldn't have surprised me.
You'd think that a space program that had a space station with over a hundred colonists going up would be able to come up with something better to eat.
There was an on-board announcement – ninety minutes to launch, all colonists should be situating themselves in their seats.
Ninety minutes. What was I supposed to do for ninety minutes?
I sighed and sat in the jump seat, staring into space. Not literally, of course, I couldn’t do that for a few more hours, but figuratively.
Clark and Lana.
He sure didn't waste any time.
Especially after he'd essentially told me that it wasn't going to happen with the two of them and after what she'd said to me the weekend before... It seemed that once Clark really was available, she'd decided maybe he wasn't as in love with me as she'd indicated.
His world wasn't falling apart and he certainly didn't need me to put it back together.
I sighed and tried to organize my thoughts for the story I'd be writing. I'd spent a good chunk of the hour after the briefing but before we'd boarded talking to other colonists, getting their stories and why they were going to the space station. I'd seen Mrs. Platt and Amy from a distance and wondered if they knew Dr. Platt hadn't been on the helicopter when it exploded. Perry had agreed that for his safety, that needed to be kept quiet for the moment. As far as I knew, no other news organization even knew he was still alive.
Before I knew it, the T minus one hour announcement was made.
I wondered who Perry had covering the launch since I wouldn’t be.
I thought Serena was home. They'd thought the miscarriage was starting earlier in the week, but it hadn't really started until the day before. My heart broke for both of them. To know the baby had stopped developing and just be waiting for the inevitable...
I shuddered involuntarily. Neither of my pregnancies had been planned, but I'd wanted both babies very much – once the initial shock of each wore off. The pregnancies hadn't been easy and neither had the first nearly year with Nate, but I wouldn't trade either of them for anything.
I sighed. It certainly seemed like a hurry up and wait type thing. There wasn't really anything for any of us to do except wait.
And wait.
And wait.
T minus thirty minutes.
I breathed a sigh of relief. We were getting there.
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
T minus thirty minutes.
They ushered us to a shuttle bus and were driven to the bleachers designated for the press. As soon as I could, I slipped my glasses down my nose and started scanning the ship for Lois.
It took a few minutes, but I finally found her – there in one of the galleys. She was sitting in the jump seat and tapping her fingers impatiently.
That didn't surprise me – Lois wasn't known for her patience with anything.
But what did she think she was doing?
Stowing away on the transport?
Someone else came into the galley. Platt. What was he doing there?
He was saying something to Lois, but I couldn’t make out what it was and it was way too loud to try to listen in.
She followed him out of the galley and into another part of the ship. No sooner had they left than someone else walked into the galley.
No, not walked.
Skulked maybe.
Snuck?
He opened another door and then shut it behind him.
Lois and Platt came back into the galley, talking animatedly, but I still couldn’t make out what they were saying.
Lois sort of threw up her hands and sat back in the jump seat, buckling herself in.
She was really going through with it.
She was going to the space station.
How long was she going to be gone?
Was she coming back on the transport in a few days?
Or was she planning on staying on the space station until the next transport returned?
And what was I going to tell Christopher?
'Sorry, Mom's in space'?
I sighed. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing. Christopher and Nate would miss her – and so would I, I was sure – but starting the separation with an atmosphere between us might not be such a bad idea.
I would miss her.
What did that mean?
She was my friend and I would miss her.
That was all.
Right?
Right.
T minus ten minutes.
Ten minutes and she was going to head into space.
The feeling in the pit of my stomach was still there and I couldn’t shake it.
I kept my glasses on the end of my nose and watched as Lois unstrapped herself from the jump seat.
What was she doing? Didn't she realize the ship was taking off in less than ten minutes?
What was I thinking? Of course she did, but she was Lois.
She opened the door to the electrical closet or whatever it was. There was a man in there doing something to an electrical panel.
I frowned as she said something to him. He didn't look happy about it. They argued for another minute before he slammed the panel shut and, grabbing his tool box, tried to brush by her.
I could tell she was raising her voice, creating a disturbance, but I wasn't entirely sure why. She must have been able to see something that I couldn’t.
She reached out and punched a red 'in case of emergency' button. A claxon sounded all over the facility and the digital countdown in front of us stopped.
A voice came over the intercom system. "Ladies and gentleman, there has been a delay in the launch. We will provide you with more details as they become available. Please stand by."
I looked back at the ship and gasped as I realized that the man Lois had been arguing with was no longer arguing with her.
Instead, he had an arm around her neck and was brandishing a hand gun.
~~~~~
Lois
~~~~~
I sat in the jump seat, tapping my fingers impatiently.
I was ready to get on with this.
"Lois," Platt hissed. "Let's go."
"Where?"
He rolled his eyes and I got up to follow him.
We went into a storage area.
"Van-El?" I hissed as I saw the person hiding in there.
"Shhh," he hissed.
He was in his black suit with the crest on it and I was glad I hadn't accidentally called him Bernie or something.
"What's going on?"
"Something else is going to happen," he told me. "Still not sure what, but something. I've been going through the storage areas looking for explosives or things of that nature, but I haven't found anything yet."
"Well, that's good, right?"
He shrugged. "Depends. If there's nothing to find, it's fine. If there is something, then no, it's not good. The longer it takes to find the worse it could be."
I nodded. "Well, I haven't seen anything, but I haven't actually left the galley. No one I talked to earlier was acting the slightest bit suspicious."
He sighed. "Okay. Well, I'm going with the transport unless we figure out what's going on before then."
We talked for another minute and then Platt and I headed back to the galley, still discussing what the possibilities were.
"Now, strap in," he said. "I've got to get back to my station."
I threw up my hands. Realistically, I knew there wasn't much else we could do. We had to be strapped in when the launch took off. If he was careful, Van-El wouldn’t have to be.
I sat in the jump seat and buckled in.
And then I heard it.
A noise coming from the electrical closet. An announcement was made that all non-essential personnel needed to depart immediately.
The noise came again.
I unbuckled my seat belt and opened the door to the closet.
I gasped.
"What are you doing?"
"Fixing an electrical problem," he said.
I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something was wrong. Something about him was... off.
"I don't believe you."
He shrugged. "No skin off my nose."
He slammed the door to the electrical panel shut but not before I saw something that didn’t belong. I wasn't quite sure what it was, but the feeling in the pit of my stomach said it wasn't good.
He grabbed his tool box and tried to brush past me.
"If you'll excuse me, miss, I'm considered non-essential personnel and I need to deboard immediately."
I went with my gut.
I reached out and slammed my hand into an emergency button.
Immediately, sirens started wailing and an announcement came over the loud speakers that the launch had been delayed and more information would be available shortly.
I wasn't really sure what the announcement said because I was fighting with the guy.
Before I knew what had happened, he had me around the neck and shoulders and had a gun to my head.
"Who are you?" I managed to croak out.
"Name's Bermuda," he told me.
"Joey Bermuda?"
"You've heard of me?"
I tried to nod. I closed my eyes and hoped that Van knew what was going on.
I also hoped Clark didn't. I wasn't sure why, but I didn't want him to know I'd gotten myself into this predicament. It wasn't like I thought he'd hold it against me in custody or visitation hearings with a judge or anything like that but that I couldn’t take care of myself...
Of course, this wasn't over yet – maybe I could get out of this by myself yet.
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
My heart was in my throat as I realized the man had a gun to her head.
I was even more surprised when I realized that Van-El was standing at the other end of the galley.
I couldn’t hear what was being said, but I knew it wasn't good.
It couldn't be good when Lois was being held hostage.
Security was heading towards the launch pad.
I managed to get away from the crowd and to where I couldn't be seen, zipping my way towards the launch pad myself.
I made it close enough to hear and see what was going on better but far enough away that I wouldn't be noticed.
I could hear Van trying to talk to the guy – Joey Bermuda? – trying to get him to release Lois.
Why didn't he just zip around and take the weapon?
Because there were too many other people around and if the firearm discharged, that could be bad.
Really bad.
But in the meantime, he had a gun to Lois' head.
Lois.
My wife.
My heart still hadn't left my throat.
They were still talking.
Security wasn't equipped to deal with this situation and I could hear the sirens from the MPD screaming our way. I was sure the hostage negotiators were on their way, too.
Would they be in time?
Could I risk zipping in there and knocking the guy down and getting the gun away from him?
I'd be risking my identity – and my brother's.
And my parents.
And my sons.
And Lois.
But if he did something to her, it wouldn’t matter.
Would it?
What if she did get hurt – or worse – before this was all over?
I couldn't even think the words of what might happen to her if Van couldn't get her out of this.
If something happened to her...
I'd have to tell our sons that their mom was gone.
I'd have to explain to Sam why I hadn't protected her.
I'd have to explain to my parents why I hadn't realized it till it was too late.
And I'd have to live without her.
Could I do that?
I suddenly knew something with amazing clarity.
I couldn’t live without her.
Without my wife.
Without Lois.
Who was on the space transport with a gun to her head.
I closed my eyes and tried to take deep calming breaths. For now, there was nothing I could do but pray, something I hadn't really done much of in a long time.
And wait.
And watch.
I closed my eyes again and took another deep breath.
My eyes flew open when I heard what I'd dreaded.
A gunshot coming from the spaceship.
Where Lois was.
And then there was an explosion.
I was surprised I didn't pass out.
My heart stopped in my chest, but I couldn't see what had happened. The smoke in the galley was too thick for even me to see through.
A second later, the main door opened and a grim looking Van-El exited the ship, carrying a limp Lois in his arms.
"Nooooooooo!"
*****
TBC
