This is probably going to get old but again I have to say thanks to by super-betas HappyGirl and IolantheAlias. Their contributions cannot be overstated.
***~~~***
When the Sky Falls:
Chapter 3: Preparations
***~~~***
Clark arrived in Smallville only a few minutes after leaving the office. A midday arrival meant that he had to either risk flying slow enough that he might be seen or fly fast enough to risk the sonic boom. Later that afternoon there were several discussions in Smallville as to whether the source of the sonic booms was some type of clear-air thunder or a plane from the air force base a few counties over.
Clark spent most of the day with his parents. He tried to project as much confidence in the plan to intercept Nightfall as the scientists seemed to have. However, he couldn’t shake his lingering nervousness, and it was obvious to both Jonathan and Martha.
“Why are you so jumpy?” Martha asked. “From everything you’ve said, the scientists who are putting this plan together have put a lot of thought into it.”
“I know, Mom. I guess it’s just that I’m used to depending on myself. The whole idea of flying out into space to Nightfall and trying to divert it is scary enough. The idea that I have to depend on people I don’t know to get me back… It just bothers me.”
“Clark, this isn’t so different from when you ride on an airplane. When you get on the plane, you’re betting your life that nothing critical will fail.”
“I know. It’s just… I don’t know how to say it. The way this whole thing is being rushed together makes me nervous. And…there’s something else.”
“Something else?” Martha asked.
“On Monday, I responded to a bomb threat at a bank. It turned out to be a hoax, but when I went to leave… Well, I’d just started to fly away when I was hit by a feeling of pain. It made me dizzy and I dropped back to the ground. It reminded me of how I felt when I got too close to that Kryptonite.”
Martha’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh, no. Are you okay now?”
“Yeah. I think if there were any lingering effects, they would have shown up in those tests yesterday. Whatever it was only lasted a second. I don’t even think most people noticed. I was only a foot or so off the ground when it happened. The pain was gone instantly and I was able to fly away with no more problems. It may not have been Kryptonite, but if it wasn’t, there might be something else out there that can do the same thing. Whatever it was, it just adds one more thing for me to worry about.”
Jonathan finally spoke up. “Well, Son, if you’re worried about the mission, is there anything you can do on your own to give you more of a sense of control?”
“What do you mean?”
“What part of this Nightfall mission worries you the most?”
Clark thought for a few seconds before responding. “I guess it’s the air supply. When I flew to the Moon yesterday, I didn’t seem to have any problem being out in space, but I need air. If anything else goes wrong, I feel like I could handle it and get back to Earth, but if the air supply fails I don’t know what I’d do. I can hold my breath for a long time, but not that long, especially when I’m exerting myself.”
Martha spoke up. “So carry a backup.”
“What?” Clark just hadn’t thought along those lines.
She turned to Jonathan. “Honey, do you remember where we put the equipment from when I took diving lessons last year?”
“Sure. It’s all in a storage area out in the barn.”
Martha turned back to her son. “Why don’t you take your own backup air supply? You’ve had diving lessons so you know how to use that kind of gear.”
Clark looked doubtful. “Mom, I don’t know. Somehow I don’t think diving gear would work correctly out in space.”
Martha remained undaunted. “There must be someone you can trust who would have access to equipment that you could use in space. Do you think you can borrow something?”
A smile lit up his face. “I’ll be back in a bit.” With that, he took off.
About an hour later, Clark reappeared carrying what looked like a black backpack with some hoses attached. “I got this from a scientist in Britain. It’s an experimental rebreather that he’s been working on as an air supply for lightweight space suits. It’s basically a diver’s rebreather that’s been modified for space work. It’s passed all of the ground-based tests and he was trying to work out a way to do a space trial. I remembered his work from some research I did for a scientific article I wrote a few months ago. It’s designed to provide air for up to a three-hour space walk. He was happy to loan it to Superman when I promised that I would test it in space for him.”
“But Son, you’re still depending on someone else.”
“I know, but I like the idea that this is something that I initiated. I met the person and I remember him from the article. I feel like I have some level of control over this.”
“Does he know what you plan to do with it?” Martha asked.
“No, I promised I’d keep the existence of Nightfall a secret. He might put the pieces together when the Nightfall announcement goes out later tonight, but by then it will be all right. I’m wondering if I should tell the mission team that I want to carry a backup.”
“Honey, aren’t they going to fit you with some equipment before you leave?” Martha asked. “I think they’ll notice if you have your own extra gear.”
Clark sighed. “I guess you’re right. But I don’t want them to think I don’t trust them.”
Before Martha could respond, Jonathan spoke up. “Son, I like the idea of you keeping this to yourself. I can’t help but worry that there might be some people like Trask involved in the mission.”
Clark started to interrupt. These people didn’t seem that way to him. However, before he even got out a single word his dad raised his hand in a ‘please let me finish’ motion.
“Son, I’m sure these people didn’t come off that way. But just the same, if they don’t need to know about this, I don’t think you should tell them. If Trask proved anything it was that there are still crazies out there that want to dissect you no matter how much good you do.”
“Okay, Dad, if you feel so strongly.”
“I do,” Jonathan replied. “Is there any way to take it along without anyone else knowing?”
Clark thought for a minute. “I guess I can put it on top of a building near the Philadelphia shipyard before I check in. When I leave, I can use some super speed and move it to the ship before I lift it into space. If I go as fast as I can move when I get the rebreather, it’ll be impossible for anyone to see me. As soon as I’m in space, I can get it from the ship it so that I’m carrying it with me.”
“Son, maybe your old dad’s paranoid but I’d feel better if you did it that way.”
Clark smiled and put his hand on Jonathan’s shoulder. “I understand, Dad. Thanks for looking out for me. I’ll carry this along and if everything goes according to plan I’ll do the space test for the British scientist after the Nightfall risk is past.”
Clark looked at the clock and realized that it was time to go if he was going to get everything ready and still have time to stop by Lois’s apartment. “Mom, Dad, I need to go. There are some things I need to take care of in Metropolis.”
Martha moved over to him and gave him a hug. “Son, I’m sure it’ll be fine, but you be careful.”
“I will, Mom,” he answered. After another few seconds he found that his dad had come up to them. Jonathan put his arms around them both. “I’ll be fine, Dad.”
“I know, Son. But this is a lot bigger than stopping a bank robbery or even helping to land a plane. Is it okay if your mom and I worry a little bit?”
He smiled back at his dad. “Yeah, I guess it’s okay.”
In less than a minute Clark took off for Metropolis.
***~~~***
Lois had been ready for nearly fifteen minutes and growing more nervous with each passing second. These past two days had been stranger than anything she could remember. Yesterday, Superman was doing odd things at the Philadelphia shipyard, and then today he seemed to have disappeared for most of the day. On top of that, Clark’s behavior this morning had been confusing.
A movement outside the window interrupted her train of thought. A quick glance at a clock revealed that Superman was more than five minutes late. She went to the window to invite him in. Only seconds later, the hero was standing in the middle of her living room. “Superman, it’s good to see you. I hope you can tell me what this is about.”
“I can tell you some of it.” He took a deep breath. “A newly-discovered asteroid is on a collision course with Earth. The scientists have named it Nightfall. It’s very large and if it hits, it could kill of most of the people on our planet.”
Lois stared back at him in shock. “So that astronomer was right.”
“What astronomer?”
“There’s an astronomer out west who’s been trying to convince people that she found a killer asteroid. I did a phone interview with her today. No wonder she seemed so convincing.”
“I guess I’m surprised that there aren’t more people reporting having found it. There will be an announcement within half an hour. I’ll be flying on a mission to try to divert Nightfall. The scientists are optimistic but…well, I’ve never tried anything like this before and… Lois, I couldn’t leave without seeing you.”
The message in his tone was clear to Lois. He was worried. “Superman, what are you saying?”
He pulled back from her so he could look at her properly. Clark brought his hand up to her cheek and just gazed tenderly into her eyes for a few seconds. “Lois, since I found out about this, I’ve been thinking about…the future. There are many things I’d like to say, but not when I’m about to leave. I have something that I would like you to think about while I’m gone.”
“Yes?” she asked.
“I’d like you to think about me.” Clark focused on putting as much tenderness in the request as he could. “Try to think of me as a person and not think about my abilities. Can you honestly say that you’ve ever done that?”
Lois’s reply felt like a plea. “Superman, I already know…”
Clark cut her off. “Lois, can you honestly tell me that you have ever thought of me as a normal person with a regular life? How would you see me without my powers? How would you feel if I were the guy next door that makes mistakes and… I… I have something that I want to tell you, but first we need to talk about…” This was much harder that he’d expected. He should have rehearsed this speech. “Lois, you must realize that the person wearing this…” he indicated his uniform, “…can’t have a personal relationship with anyone.”
Lois’s mind was spinning. It sounded like he wanted to say that he had feelings for her. Except for that part at the end, she would swear that he was trying to find a way to say that he wanted to start dating. Or did he mean that since he was Superman, he could never date anyone no matter how much he might want to? And, what was it with the “guy next door” stuff? Did he mean that he was going to give up being Superman? And what kind of mistakes could he be talking about?
While these ideas were percolating in her thoughts, she sensed a movement from Superman. When her eyes met his she knew. In an instant the distance that separated them disappeared. It was Superman who initiated the kiss but once it started, it was very much a cooperative venture.
The kiss seemed to go on forever. When they finally separated, Lois was speechless. She had kissed men before but this was different. After that first second she had lost herself in the feeling. It wasn’t arousal… well, it wasn’t just that. This was something more. This was a connection. This was a feeling of belonging that she had never felt before. The kiss at the airport during the pheromone case last week/month had hinted at this, but today was far stronger. Somehow it felt more real.
As she stared up into his brown eyes, it was clear that the kiss had something of a similar effect on him. She had to say something. “Superman. I…” But the words died on her lips.
Before she could regroup he stepped back to create some distance. “Lois, that was… but not now. This is more complicated than you know because of… Well, like I said before, I promise we’ll talk when I get back. Will you think about what I asked?”
“Yes,” she replied, somewhat breathlessly.
He could hear the confusion in her voice but he didn’t see any way to fix that right now. Instead, he gave her his best smile and said, “We’ll talk tomorrow.” And with a whoosh of air he disappeared.
***~~~***
The guidance system had been telling Clark that he was on course for some time now. The image being relayed from the other side of the ship still showed nothing. There wasn’t much more to do than simply stay on course and maintain speed.
The scientists had insisted that the guidance system was very easy to understand, and Clark had to agree with them. There was a video screen that showed a path made up of green circles. All he had to do was stay in the center of the path. As long as he was on course, the circles stayed green. At the suggestion of mission control, he had deliberately strayed off-course right after he left Earth. Sure enough, the path had turned from green to red and he heard an alarm sound in the headset he was wearing. He quickly returned to the path and the circles changed back to green.
Except for the tension, Clark found the flight boring. Fortunately, it wasn’t going to take very long. When he left on the mission, Nightfall was about 1.1 million miles away. The idea was to fly toward Nightfall as fast as he could. The goal was to achieve an impact speed of greater than 1000 miles per second. There were two indicators to show Clark how fast he was going. Ground-based radars from all over the world were monitoring his progress and the mission control technician was providing near constant information mixed in among the other mission chatter. When he got closer to Nightfall, a second system, built onto the ship, would kick in.
They had stressed to him that at 1000 miles per second, it would only take 18 minutes to reach Nightfall. Therefore he needed to work as hard as possible to get the ship up to speed quickly. Clark found that it was much harder to reach the desired velocity when pushing a ship. When it was just him, whether flying to Europe or the Moon, he would reach full speed almost instantly. When pushing the ship it was very different. It had taken several minutes of giving it everything he had to reach the desired speed. Mission control told him that he had actually achieved more than 1100 miles per second and had asked him to not try to go any faster since the higher speeds were outside both the capabilities of the guidance equipment and the parameters of the mission plan.
The scientists told him that because of the vacuum of space, once he got the ship up to speed it should take very little force to maintain that velocity. That was true to a point, but there must be more friction than they expected because when he relaxed, there was a noticeable decrease in forward velocity. The mission control scientists said that there must be a cloud of dust and debris surrounding Nightfall.
Clark was surprised how just a few minutes could seem to drag on. He was waiting for the radar systems on the ship to report contact. He had been briefed that when he got close enough to Nightfall, the radar systems on the ship would provide additional guidance information for the last part of the trip. The scientists had said that having the local guidance system would make for a much more accurate determination of speed and impact position. Therefore, the ship-based system was going to tell him when to release the ship and head back.
Clark felt a shudder come through the hand rails. It felt like the ship had run into something. A second later he felt another one.
“EPRAD control?” Clark called.
He waited for their reply. The mission planners had made sure that he understood that near the end of the mission, the million mile distance would lead to a ten second delay in round-trip communication. They had stressed that the five second delay for one-way information flow had been factored into the mission plan. They wanted him to understand why it was going to seem like mission control was going to get slower in responding as the mission proceeded.
“EPRAD here, Superman. What is your status?”
“Everything is fine. I’m on course but I just felt a vibration like the ship ran into something.”
“There may be some small fragments ahead of Nightfall. Are you having any problem maintaining the velocity of the ship?”
“No. I was just surprised to feel it.”
“Superman, our radar scans didn’t pick up anything, but the presence of some leading debris was always a possibility.”
“Okay, EPRAD. I’ll let you know if it becomes a threat to the mission. How much longer do I have?”
“Superman, you are nearly there. Your terminal guidance radar on the ship should pick up Nightfall any second now. You will know because the guidance rings will turn from green to blue. Once that happens, watch for the release notice. The whole screen will turn yellow. That means that you are close enough that the ship is certain to hit Nightfall at the target location.”
“Thank you, EPRAD control.” Clark found that he had to be careful not to let his annoyance show. That had been covered in the mission briefing. “At my present speed, how close will I be to Nightfall when I am to release the ship?”
“At your current speed the release point will be five and one-half seconds before impact. It’s very important that you are exactly on the right course when you release the ship. Even a slight variance could be disastrous. That, combined with the time delay for communication, is why we built release-determination functionality into your mission pack.”
“Don’t worry, EPRAD, I’ll make sure we are on course and I won’t release early.”
At that instant the guidance rings changed from green to blue.
A few seconds later he heard mission control. “Superman, our remote telemetry shows that you are on final approach. Do you confirm?”
“Yes, EPRAD. I have blue guidance rings. I need to concentrate now, so I won’t be talking much.”
“Very good, Superman, you have 85 seconds until impact. Do you see the countdown timer on the screen?”
The time delay made talking about the time confusing. “Yes, EPRAD, I now see 74 seconds.”
“Good luck, Superman. We will continue to monitor.”
Only a second later Clark heard the rumbling of several impacts against the ship. Then there was a veritable storm of clanging. It seemed clear that he had encountered a much denser debris field. However, despite the noise he had no problem maintaining course and speed. After another second of clanging the sound stopped. He figured that he must be through this debris field.
The timer countdown had just reached 55 seconds when it happened. Instead of clanging there was a strange sound like grinding mixed with metal tearing. Suddenly the guidance screen blinked and turned yellow with the word “RELEASE NOW” flashing in the middle of the screen. Strangely enough, the guidance rings were still there and the countdown read 53 seconds. He heard a faint pop and even though the air smelled different, he had no trouble breathing. The communication system seemed to fail and his ears were filled with static. However, that only went on for an instant. The silence was broken by the last voice that Clark wanted to hear.
“Hello, Superman, Lex Luthor here. I wanted to thank you for saving the planet for me. You should know that LexCorp built your survival suit. In fact, I personally helped in the design. From the instant your guidance system signaled that you were no longer needed, your air supply has been laced with Kryptonite and poison gas. You were a worthy adversary, but I always win. Have a nice death. Oh, I’ll be sure to be there to comfort Lois Lane when you’re gone.”
As Clark listened to his enemy’s voice, he realized he felt dizzy and weak. As soon as he heard the word Kryptonite he stopped breathing, but it was too late. He felt slightly dizzy and it was becoming hard to concentrate. He pulled off the breathing mask and reached for the rebreather. As soon as it was over his face, he tried to breathe quickly to see if that would purge his system.
It helped some, but not enough. Just as his hands reached the grips for the ship, there was another shock through the handles on the ship and Clark realized that he had drifted out of the still visible guidance rings. When he tried to guide the ship back, he found that he no longer had enough strength to control the ship at all. As much as he strained, it was to no avail as the ship continued to drift off-course.
Through the growing fog that was his thoughts, Clark realized that there was nothing else he could do. With a cry of anguish he released the ship and turned away. Fortunately, although his strength was mostly gone, he still had some of his power. He set his sights on Earth and accelerated to his top speed. With the EPRAD-supplied survival pack still strapped to his back, and the rebreather slung over his shoulder, he headed back to Earth.
As the minutes passed Clark could feel that something was definitely wrong. With each passing second it got harder to maintain his speed. It was also getting harder and harder to concentrate. Whatever was in that gas that Luthor used, it was having an effect.
Without the burden of the ship, the return trip seemed to take very little time. But everything was becoming so confused. He knew he had to go to that city over there but… There was someone there who was important but he just couldn’t remember. The last coherent thought was the image of a dark-haired woman and the name Lois.
TBC
Bob
