Nighttime in the Daytime, 9/?
Previously
“I left by your window,” he said by way of explanation. “There was a fire in an old apartment building, probably started by a gas leak.”
Clark put his arm around her shoulders and walked her to the kitchen area. “Oh, I smell Kona coffee. Fresh?”
“Indeed, just for you. Here, let me put the flowers in water. By the way, where did you get them in the dead of winter? They don’t seem like florist’s flowers.”
“They’re not. It’s summer in Brazil. And they have French bakeries too.” He put the bag of croissants on the table. “I figured I’d bring the flowers here. We didn’t really talk about how public we want to make our new relationship.”
“New relationship,” she mused as she stopped fishing for a vase. “I guess that’s what we have.”
“The vase is in back in the lower right cupboard. Yes, I think we have a relationship. I know I want one. And I’ll give you that interview anytime you want. We need to decide what depth of detail to print. I really need your advice, since you are the experienced journalist. My experience is to write reports that get locked in a safe somewhere.”
Lois was momentarily overwhelmed by what last night really meant. It was all new, sudden and had progressed very fast, but very enjoyably.
Sensing her hesitancy, Clark explained his side. “Lois, it’s up to you. As fast as you want, as much interaction as you want and when you want. Although I personally enjoyed our interaction last night. But it is totally up to you. No strings unless you want them.” Just having her know about him had somehow bolstered his courage at attacking Nightfall. The rest could wait because there would be a future. There had to be.
Chapter 9. A Shadow Falls Over the World
Dawn cracked open the day over Smallville, Kansas, USA, Friday, January 2, 2004. It was little more than a month since Pete had told Clark Kent about the asteroid headed to Earth and that the human race might follow the path of the dinosaurs if he didn’t do something about it. His whole life began to change in that instant. He went public with his special abilities in a garish costume to win over the hearts and trust of humanity so he would be allowed to deal with the asteroid in an efficient way that would minimize damage.
The woman he had met while undercover at the Metro Club as Charlie King the bartender and she as Lola Dane the singer was now his soul mate and the one new person that knew about the capabilities with which he was born. Still not knowing why or how he was different from everyone else, Clark knew he just couldn’t stand idly by while the planet was damaged. He enlisted seasoned journalist Lois Lane’s help to use her expertise to bring his message to the public and started a personal relationship with her simply because he needed her understanding, comfort, care and loving.
Lois had spent the New Year holiday with her parents and sister and Clark had come back to the Farm to share the holidays with his sister and brother and his foster parents. He didn’t really know how many more holidays he would have with them. To make matters worse, Pete, his astronomy professor brother, had updated him about the asteroid and it was indeed on a direct course to Earth. Strangely, although thousands of professional and amateur astronomers had been tracking this strange visitor from outer space for more than two months, the general public remained blissfully unaware of it.
Right now, Clark needed some stress relief. After clearing the snow off of one of the dormant fields on the Kent farm, he had set up a baseball diamond. Instead of the boys of spring, he was the man of winter. And right now he was playing baseball with the only one capable of testing his limits, namely himself.
Visualizing the playing field and a full crowd of spectators, he began in the catcher’s position behind home plate, sending surreptitious hand signals to the pitcher he would be next about the capabilities of the batter coming up, which he would do third. He zoomed to the pitcher’s mound, acknowledged the signals with a subtle gesture, checked that the basemen were in place, played to the imaginary crowd and wound up and pitched a fast pitch to home plate. He flashed there, grabbed the bat and hit a home run to left field. After a leisurely (for him) run around the bases, he zipped out and caught the fly ball. He grinned as he tossed the ball up and bowed to the cheers of the crowd. He raised his arms in victory as he danced back to the imaginary dug-out. If only real life were that easy.
*+*+*+*+*+*+
That Sunday night, Lois Lane answered her door bell to reveal a grinning Clark Kent on the other side. He was holding the Sunday edition of the Daily Planet in front of him so she could see the article with her byline. The above the fold headline read “Superman Saves Passengers in Train Crash.”
“Great story, Lois.”
She smiled at him, “Come on in, Clark.” As usual, he looked scrumptious in his black leather coat, jeans and sweater.
As soon as she shut the door and locked it, he turned to her, hugging and kissing her as the paper crunched between them. “I missed you, beautiful,“ he said between kisses. “I wanted to do this at the accident yesterday when you came over for the interview, but that wouldn’t have been good.”
“I wanted to kiss you too. You looked sad. It was hard to act so remote when you were clearly hurting.”
Clark expelled a big breath. “Yeah, but I managed to save a bunch of people. Jimmy’s photos are great, too. They really showed the tragedy with unvarnished truth. And you,” Clark pointed a finger at Lois, “are doing a great job of getting the ‘I’m here to help’ message out to the public.”
“Come, sit down. Let’s catch up,” Lois said as she pulled him along deeper into the living room. “I’m nobody’s flack, though. You are here to help and you are doing a wonderful job.”
Clark stopped and stared. “Whoa. Wait a minute! What happened to those sofas of yours?”
“You mean the two hard-as-benches white ones?
“Yes, those are the ones. I couldn’t lie on them comfortably.”
“Well, you seemed to do O.K. that night.”
Clark knew exactly which night she was talking about. “I cheated. I levitated so I wouldn’t break my back. So what’s with the new sofa? It looks so comfortable. And it is not white.”
“Come, try it out. But to answer your question, my Mother visited and convinced me I needed something more…cushy and stylish.”
Clark sat down and bounced experimentally. “Wow, this is great! Come here, see how great this is.”
Lois eagerly moved to his lap and had to admit this was the best time she had had on her new couch so far.
After a pleasantly long time involved on the couch, Clark admitted. “You know what, I’m tired and I need to get on back to my place.”
At her arched eyebrow, he continued. “Yes, I do get tired emotionally.” Lifting her up with him and setting her on her feet, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a business card. “I got a new cell phone. Here’s the number. Pete has it too, for updates on the asteroid.”
Lois could see the impending asteroid was increasing Clark’s tension, so she tried to lighten the mood and quipped, “What, no S shield on your card?”
“Ha, ha. Funny lady. I can just see some cop saying, ‘Hey Supes, your cape is ringing!’”
*+*+*+*+*+*+
Monday morning the Daily Planet staff had just come out of Perry’s morning briefing when suddenly both elevators opened simultaneously.
A man of ram-rod military bearing crossed with a maniacal sense of mission, burst over to the bullpen railing. He was followed by about a dozen men in black suits, white shirts and narrow ties; frozen-faced, agent-types.
The man held a folded official looking document over his head and announced loudly to the sea of staring faces, “This is a warrant issued by Federal Court.”
The agents began spreading throughout the room, securing the premises and exits. The man continued, “Everyone: Step away from your desks NOW!”
Lois thought that was a bit silly since they weren’t at their desks, but clustered halfway between the conference room and the bullpen proper.
Like a general in charge, Perry moved forward to stare up at the man, “Nobody comes busting into my newsroom like this!”
The man simply waved the warrant at him and started down the ramp. “Take it up with Washington.”
After Perry had gotten the proffered warrant, he read it half aloud to the surrounding people as he scanned the document, “Order to produce evidence … compel testimony .” A shocked expression on his face, he stared at Lois, “Lois Lane and Clark Kent!”
As if in answer, an agent began roughly searching Lois's desk.
Lois ran over and moved in front of the man to stop his searching. “Wait a minute!”
A second agent then moved to pull her off the first. Lois, however, was a handful and soon a third agent was involved.
Perry intervened, staring fiercely at the man. Surely Clark would have the inside track on whether such a warrant was issued, he reasoned. “Just who are you people bustin’ into my newsroom?”
Lois wasn’t done yet, either. “Get your hands off me! I’m a reporter. As in, protected by the Constitution.”
The man smirked as he held up the purported warrant. “Impressive document, the Constitution. It gives the courts the authority to issue warrants like this one. Which says I get what I want.”
The third agent finally released Lois and she confronted the man, “What exactly is it you want?”
“I want Superman! You and Clark Kent seem to be the people that know the most about him. I want you, and the missing Mr. Kent, to take polygraph tests.”
“Do you honestly think if we knew where Superman was, we'd hang around this place and not be out covering the story?”
*+*+*+*+*+*+
Lois sat in Perry’s office where she had been ordered to stay while Perry negotiated with the agents.
Perry came wearily and sat behind his desk, staring at Lois. “Where is Clark?”
Shrugging, Lois whispered, “At his real job, I suspect.”
“Does he know about this?”
“Somehow I don’t think so, Perry. He would have mentioned something to me last night if he did. These guys don’t strike me as genuine.”
At the mention of ‘last night’, Perry raised one eyebrow but continued, “I told them if they're bound and determined to take your computers and your notes to just get it over with and get out of the office so we can start suing their butts into the next century. Does Clark have anything inflammatory on his computer?”
Lois shook her head, “I don’t think so. Did you get a name for the ringleader?”
Nodding, Perry answered. “Yes. He said his name was George Thompson and he gave me some mumbo jumbo name of an office that didn’t sound real.” Perry paused reflectively and continued, “On the other hand, a lot of government offices don’t sound real. Can you get a hold of Clark?”
Lois ignored that and leapt to the most important part to her. “Take my computer?”
“You take the polygraph, they walk. You don't, they're gonna confiscate the whole shebang.
“Perry, everything I've ever done, or thought about doing is on that computer. All my contacts, all my files on Lex Luthor! True, they’re encrypted, but such things can be broken, especially by the government.”
“So what are we going to do, Lois? I'm with you either way. Do you know enough about Superman to even lie on a polygraph? You know the most of anyone in Metropolis except Superman himself.”
*+*+*+*+*+*+
Clark was sitting at his desk in his FBI office reading the latest information on the mysterious crates that came from the airplane he rescued when his new cell phone rang. He figured it was Pete with an update on the asteroid.
“Hello?”
“Clark, it’s Lois.”
“Lois, what’s wrong?”
“Does something have to be wrong for me to call?”
“On this phone, yes.”
“Right. Yes, things are not right in the world.”
“Why are you whispering?”
“Some government agent named George Thompson and his group of Men-in-Black invaded the paper this morning, hunting info on Superman. I think they think he’s an enemy of the state, or the world. They want me – and you – to take a polygraph test about what we know about Superman or else they’ll confiscate our computers.”
“I don’t have much on my computer except the Lex files, but it might be a problem for you.”
“Did I just hear you smirk?”
“Yes, you did. Let me do a little research here and I’ll be there shortly.”
“Make it quick, flyboy. I don’t know how good a liar I am.”
“Flyboy?”
“Well, that will do until I call you Lover in public.”
*+*+*+*+*+*+
The M-I-B techs set up the polygraph apparatus in the same conference room Perry used for his morning briefings. Lois thought of it as polluting the space.
When the tech had put the electrodes on her right hand, she had exclaimed loudly, “Watch it there, buddy! I just took off the bandage from that sprained arm! Be gentle, if you know how!”
Now hooked up to the analog polygraph machine with a chest band and electrodes on her arms and fingers and sitting in a stiff and uncomfortable chair, Lois was furious and was sure her heart rate was way up. This was a good thing, she remembered belatedly. If it was up already, it wouldn’t increase by much if they asked her if she knew Superman.
George Thompson was staring at her in a belligerent manner, as if beginning an interrogation of a murder suspect. This didn’t seem like the correct way to do things to Lois. If she remembered right, they would as her some benign questions first, get her readings then, and then ask what was of real interest to them.
Thompson began, “You will answer 'yes' to these first two questions. We use this to
calibrate the machine…Is your name Lois Lane?”
Lois answered in a smart aleck manner, “That's what the by-line says. Yes.”
“Are you also President of the United States?”
The obvious answer was ‘no’, but Lois rolled her eyes and answered “Yes”. She noticed him looking at her with an exasperated expression. What did he expect, busting into the Daily Planet like that? Sunshine and roses?
Thompson continued, “Do you have any reason to believe Superman is an agent of a foreign power?”
Squeezing in as much attitude as she could, Lois replied “Yeah, and leprechauns are agents of the I.R.A.”
“Is Superman from another planet?”
“Duh. He flies, appears to have morals and care about people. This guy couldn’t be from Earth if you are a sample of the human race.” Lois noticed that appeared to hit home and continued in a singsong voice, “If something looks like a duck, walks like a duck and talks like a duck, the chances are pretty good it is a duck. He looks like a man to me.”
Thompson backed up and backed off his attitude a bit, continuing more softly, “During the time you two were alone, did Superman discuss his mission here on Earth?”
“Mission? We flew. We didn't talk. We didn't have to.”
At that, Thompson remarked quietly to the tech, “Non-verbal communication.”
He then asked Lois, “Does Superman have any telepathic powers?”
“I hope not for his sake. He’d know every female on Earth was lusting after him.”
“Have you any romantic attachment to this Superman?”
Lois gave kind of a choking laugh, then replied “No.”
The tech noticed a fluctuation and pointed it out to Thompson. They shared a look, clearly, their suspicions were growing. They turned their attention back to Lois who just shrugged.
Since the blinds in the conference room were closed, Lois didn’t notice Clark get off the elevator and walk into Perry’s office.
Just then, Thompson’s phone rang and he stood upright, turned and reached into his pocket for his phone. Answering with a curt “yes” he listened for a moment then pocketed his phone and said, “Were done here. Pack up, quickly.” With that, he opened the conference room door and marched out, clapping his hands together.
All the agents immediately ceased what they were doing, and followed after him toward the elevators.
The tech quickly packed up his gear and ripped the electrodes off of Lois, who promptly exclaimed, “Ouch, that hurts. I said watch the arm, buddy!”
Perry emerged from his doorway and called out to the M-I-B, “What's going on? I want an explanation!”
Thompson didn’t answer but simply got on the elevators with the rest of the agents. As suddenly as they came, Thompson and company were gone.
Lois came out of the conference room slowly rubbing her right arm with her left hand. She turned to Perry and saw Clark behind him, inside Perry’s office. Perry motioned to her and she followed him inside his office. When she was inside and the door was closed, Clark asked softly, “Are you all right, Lois?”
In reply, Lois nodded and said, “Yeah, I’m O.K. They wanted to know what Superman’s ‘mission’ on Earth was.”
Clark gave a snort and then changed it to a cough after glancing at Perry. “How about saving the whole planet as a mission,” he muttered softly. Lois just looked at him in sympathy.
Now settled behind his desk, Perry asked quietly, “What’s the word, Clark?”
Clark and Lois both took seats. “I checked the Bureau links and there was no warrant issued on the Daily Planet. These guys are bogus. They even didn’t look legit in the brief time I saw them after I got here. Although they did have a rather military bearing. I would guess they were in the forces at some point in their lives. What was the name of the head guy again?”
“George Thompson,” Lois and Perry replied in unison.
“How about Lois and I go to the Planet’s morgue and look through Project Blue Book info from the 1970s? I think we might find a link there." Clark continued, “Perry, with this happening, the Bureau has sent me over to spend more time here to keep an eye on things. I hope that’s all right with you.”
“Clark, that’s fine. We could have used you here earlier today when these clowns arrived. Maybe Lois will teach you how to write hard hitting journalistic stories while you are here. At least your computers are safe, due to Lois being willing to take the polygraph test.”
Clark turned to Lois and said, “Thanks for that, Lois. Want to take a trip to the morgue with me?”
Lois laughed freely. “What a great day! A polygraph test from a goon followed by a trip to the morgue! Of course I’ll come. After all, my eyesight is better than yours.” She turned her head and gave a surprised Clark a wink that only he could see.
*+*+*+*+*+*+
It was cold and dank in the basement archives, better known as “the morgue.” When they got inside the door, Clark lowered his glasses and saw that no one else was there. “Are you really all right, Lois?” His voice was soft and tender with obvious concern for her.
Lois blew out a breath of exasperation for the day’s events and said equally softly, “Yes, I really am all right. He really didn’t get around to asking more than did I know Superman and if I did, what was his mission on Earth. Literally, that was his word, ‘mission’. I get the feeling they are worried about an alien invasion force and that you are the leader.”
“Well, I’ve never met anyone else with my abilities and I think I would have. But, I just ‘came out’ as it were and it is not impossible there might be others. But we don’t know about each other if there are. I never encountered anyone in my travels.”
Lois slowly reached up and touched his cheek tenderly. They stared into each other’s eyes for a moment, and then Clark brought her into a hug and then a kiss. The kiss began slowly, but soon erupted into intense passion. If two people could make love standing up fully dressed, these two were.
Finally they started slowing down and ended by touching foreheads. “Wow. If that’s alien love, I’m all for it,” Lois breathed. “Oh, by the way, the phone call that called the goons off came just in time. They were zeroing in on the question of whether I had a romantic feeling for Superman. I said ‘no’ and I think I failed.”
Clark smiled at that, cupping her cheek lovingly with his right hand. “Well, you succeeded with me. What you do to me, Lois Lane. What you do to me! I’ve never felt anything like this.”
“What do you mean, never? A handsome guy like you must have dated dozens of women!”
Clark shook his head. “Nope, not true. Now show me how to find stuff in this morgue of yours.” He took her left hand and tried to move into the files area.
Lois planted her feet. “Wait. Again, what do you mean, never? A guy as good looking as you? You’re kidding, right?”
“This isn’t the place to have this discussion,” Clark insisted.
“Why not? We’re alone and unlikely to be interrupted.”
“Because we’re at work, a work place I’m going to be sharing with you more frequently, to my great joy, and this is very private.”
Protesting, Lois pleaded, “We just nearly did the horizontal rhumba on these tables and we’re alone! Again, why not?”
Clark muttered, “Bulldog Lane” and tugged Lois forward. She came reluctantly, but she did move. “Help me find the file here, and maybe I’ll tell you.”
Lois dropped his hand, walked quickly to a library index card file, found a card, pulled it out and turned the next one on edge to mark the spot, walked over to the file drawers, found the right six drawer file, the right file drawer and finally the right file. With a flourish, she presented it to Clark, then returned to the index system and refiled the card.
Clark opened the file and started reading the stories and looking at the pictures at a very fast speed.
Lois reached over and stilled his hand. “Clark, I’m sorry. I’m pushing to hard …again. You’ll tell me whatever you want to tell me when you are ready to. You have too much on your mind these days for me to be a nag.”
He turned to her and gave her the megawatt smile and a small kiss. “Thanks for understanding, Lois. Let’s find these guys.” He started sorting through the pictures at a speed Lois could follow. Flipping over a photo, he said, “Look, these guys were still in business in the ‘80’s.”
Laying the picture down, he magnified the picture with his enhanced vision and looked through the group picture. “Look here. I think this is Thompson as a young man. He stood in front of the group in the elevator leaving long enough for me to get a close up view of him.” He pointed first to his eyes and then to a man in the background.
“Hang on.” Lois rummaged around in a drawer in the table and came up with a magnifying glass. “We mere humans need equipment to see like you do.”
“Lois, there is nothing ‘mere’ about you.”
“Well, thanks, but I still need a magnifying glass.” She smiled at him, then took the photo over to a desk light, turned it on and looked at the top row of uniformed men. Once she found him, she brought the photo back and set it down in front of Clark and put her finger just below his face. “This is a younger version of the man who interrogated me this morning.”
“Yep, that’s the one I saw clap his hands together and call his troops to heel. Interrogated you? Did he hurt you at all?”
Shaking her head in the negative, “No, he was just a little belligerent. I don’t think he likes aliens much.”
“Ya think?” Clark started reading the attached article. “Yep, his name is Airman George Thompson.” Clark read further. “The leader of Project Blue Book at the time was Colonel Burton Newcomb.”
“Let’s take this to Perry and see if we can trace this down.”
“You’ve got it, partner.”
*+*+*+*+*+*+
Lois and Clark now sat on a couch in the den of the home of Air Force General (Ret) Burton Newcomb. Clark had easily gotten his phone number and address from the government files. If you got a retirement check, you were on file.
Both Clark and Lois noticed the wall of commendations, pictures of units, and achievements in…logistics? As the daughter of a Navy Admiral who flew airplanes, Lois was familiar with most of the standard memorabilia. Clark noted after a swift surreptitious scan that there was not one thing relating to Project Blue Book.
The General was a stocky man with thinning hair and a haunted look. He sat behind his desk in the den playing with a replica flintlock pistol.
Lois was on familiar ground here and took the lead. “This morning a man name George Thompson came into the newsroom of the Daily Planet where we both work,” she began, gesturing to Clark and herself, “and demanded we take lie-detector tests or have our computers and files confiscated by his group. He waved a bogus warrant around and subjected me to a rather awkward polygraph test. Apparently, he has a ravening fear that Superman represents the beginning of an alien invasion of Earth and his mission is to find Superman and eliminate him. If that is possible.”
At those words, the General gave a heavy sigh. “Have either of you ever had to keep a secret? A huge secret?”
Lois and Clark chorused together, “Yes.” Lois continued, “I have sources to protect. In fact, if you give us information, we will never reveal your name.”
Newcomb look startled for a moment, then continued, “Keeping a secret eats away at you. It's Just a nibble at a time, but it adds up. And one day, you wake up and realize it's consumed everything inside you. The harassment, the lies, the deceit, the forging of documents to continue our ‘mission’.” He used finger quotes around the word ‘mission’.
Newcomb continued, "We used them all thinking we were saving our country. We were just a small group when we started, but we all took special oaths on the same day. August the second, nineteen-fifty-seven. I was about your age.”
Lois interjected, “You didn't take an oath to protect people like Thompson, did you?”
Newcomb took a moment, obviously thinking about Thompson. “You don't need me to find Thompson. He's probably hiding in plain sight. Say, a used office furniture warehouse on Bessolo Boulevard and Pine.”
Newcomb put down the pistol on his desk and pointed with his fingers, more in control, as if he had just made a decision. “Getting to him, though, that's another matter. A man like Thompson would no doubt be protected by an impenetrable security system.”
With some confidence, Clark responded, “Every system has a flaw.”
Newcomb removed a credit-card sized card with a magnetic strip from his desk drawer and surreptitiously placed it on the corner of the desk. It had two numbers on it, "3” and “9".
Newcomb continued, “Not this one! I designed it myself. You’d need someone on the inside, or someone who'd been on the inside, to help you out. Now, assuming you could find such a person, you'd have to hope that person found a man like Thompson so repugnant, and his methods so un-American, that he would choose
to help you. That's a tall order.”
After a pause of more thought, Newcomb took a deep breath and continued. “And Thompson isn’t the only one. There is still one of us on active duty. His name is General Jason Trask, current head of NORAD. You be wary of him. He changed to a regular career path, but he still believes there are aliens on Earth.”
He held up a copy of Sunday’s Daily Planet. “Superman just proved him right.”
Newcomb rose and moved to his collection of military rifles mounted on the wall, removing one of them. In a determined voice he said, “I'm going to count to three. When I turn around, I expect you to be gone. One...”
Lois and Clark looked at each other. Was he going to shoot them after baring his soul…or himself?
“Two ...”
It was an opportunity she could not pass up. Lois took the security card from the desk.
“Three ...”
Clark grabbed Lois around the shoulders and hustled her out of the den and out of the house. No sound of a gunshot came.
Lois walked to her Jeep and asked a little breathlessly, “Clark, did you notice his ‘love me’ wall?”
“‘Love me’ wall?”
“It’s what the military calls their wall full of their commendations and military history. In other words, a summary of their career. Nothing at all about Project Blue Book was there. But, on the other hand, would you put something so super secret up on a wall, or on the other other hand, was he ashamed of what he did there?”
“That did seem to be the case with his tip on the general still on active duty. I’ve heard of him, too. He was a passenger on that airplane I rescued from Denver to Metropolis Airport.”
*+*+*+*+*+*+
Lois and Clark stood before the door of the only furniture warehouse on the corner of Bessolo Blvd. and Pine. It had a magnetic security system. Holding the card taken from Newcomb's home, Lois swiped the card in the door. The door unlocked with a click. “And the General thought this was going to be hard.”
Lois stepped inside, followed by Clark, into a small, empty anteroom. The outside door shut with an ominous sounding click. “What can you see, Clark?”
Clark pulled his glasses down and looked through the inside wall. “Nothing,” he said as he pushed his glasses back up in disgust. “It’s got old paint with lead in it on the wall.”
“You can’t see through lead?”
“Nope. Not that they painted it just for me. After all, I just got here as far as they know. At least there is a door with a tumbler lock on it. And my limitations, few as they are, aren’t public knowledge…yet.”
Lois pointed at a large readout on the wall, counting down the time. “And a time limit on opening it.”
“They must have added this since Newcomb’s day.”
“This is no time to get smug. We have 45 seconds to figure out the combination.”
Clark tugged his earlobe and grinned, stepped up to the lock and spun it, then entered the most probable combination he could think of. Unbeknownst to Lois he heard the satisfying ca-chunk sound every time he hit the correct number. He unlocked the door with 25 seconds left.
“What, you couldn’t have just pulled off the door, “Lois teased.
“Yes, I could have. But I think that would have ruled out a covert entry.” He bowed her ahead of him and explained. “The General said August 2, 1957. Eight right, two left, fifty-seven right back to zero and unlock.”
“How do you know to go right first? Why not left?”
“It’s a government lock. I’ve done a million of ‘em.”
Lois looked at him as she walked through the door. “You are so weird. But it works for you.”
The large expanse inside was dimly lit with only security lights and thankfully deserted. There were large things to the rear covered in tarps and file cabinets along one wall adjacent to a small desk.
“I don't know about this, Lois. Where is everybody?”
“Clark, the thing about luck is, don't question it.”
Clark halted Lois by touching her shoulder, pulled down his glasses and began to x-ray the cabinets. Looking inside the one nearest the desk, Clark saw a folder in front that had an itemization that included Roswell, New Mexico, 1957; White Mountains, Arizona 1975; Gulf Breeze, Florida, 1986; Voronezh, USSR, 1989; and Rachel, NV, USA, 1995. Most important of all, however, was one labeled Smallville, Kansas, 1978. The cabinet was locked with a lock bar over all the drawers and a simple gym locker combination padlock on it. Clark simply pulled the lock down and unhooked it.
“Clark, it’s really too dark to read in here. Can we turn on some lights?”
Clark shook his head in the negative. “Not the big overhead fluorescents. What if somebody comes back? I can see fine. We’ll turn on the desk light and you can read under that.” On the word, he hit the on switch on the desk light.
Lois pulled out a drawer and began to randomly pull folders out and examine them under the desk light. There was file after file with clear UFO photos and reports. Lois held up one photo of a Spielbergian light-ship. “Give me a break. I've seen this
movie.”
Clark pulled the file for Smallville, 1978 out of the top drawer and read it rapidly. “Lois, this looks like the genuine article.”
Still fixated on her folders of photos rather than the file Clark was holding, she objected. “They're too good. It's got to be a set-up.”
Clark was still staring at his own folder in the half darkness. “What if it's not? What if someone actually travelled in this? People from far away...”
“There's a story here, Clark, but I don't know if it's UFO's.”
“I thought you were the one who said if it walks like a duck –“
“Don't quote me to myself, Clark.”
Clark laid the folder he had been holding down on the desk under the light and Lois finally saw it.
“Oh, my God, Clark. Smallville. They have information on you!”
Clark wandered back into the gloom of the warehouse, drawn by something to the area of the large objects under tarps.
“What are you doing?”
“Let's see what else they have in here.”
Lois pulled off several tarps and found nothing but piles of junk. “This is just an Unidentified Salvage Yard. Not even the Roswell weather balloon is here.”
Clark removed another tarp. It had covered a clearly identifiable spaceship with the look and feel of reality. “This one doesn't look like any scrap metal I ever saw.”
Moving along, Clark was awed by what he was seeing.
Lois stayed behind, examining the last ship. “Clark, do you really think... ?”
But Clark didn't hear. He came upon what appeared to be a fifteen foot entry vehicle. It not look familiar in any earthly sense.
Clark gingerly ran his fingertips down one metal beam. On it was a row of mysterious hieroglyphics and at the end of the row was the familiar "S" insignia he had begun to wear on his Superman costume. It was a moment of epiphany which caused even Clark's superpowered knees to buckle. Wanting a moment to savor this alone, he didn’t call out to Lois immediately.
Next to the wreckage was a bagged artifact, labeled "Smallville, Exhibit A." Inside was what appeared to be a spherical shape the size of a baseball. Clark took it out of its bag, and as his fingers made contact, it began to glow from the inside. The hair on the back of his head rose at the unexpected sight.
It was a three-dimensional globe with mountain peaks and valleys. It was Earth. As Clark held it, it began to change and become different. It showed peaks and valleys, had a reddish tint and huge ice caps. It was another planet. Clark, stunned, said to himself in a soft whisper of recognition of a world long forgotten and a memory long suppressed, “Krypton.”
Clark was deeply touched by holding this bit of his homeworld. He wanted to savor its impact on his life in private, so he returned the globe to its bag and put it in the pocket of his jacket.
“Lois, over here,” he called out softly.
Stumbling around dark objects a bit, Lois found him beside the ship. She fished her flashlight out of her voluminous purse and shined its light on it. She saw it immediately, “Your ship! Superman’s “S” is on it!”
Shivers ran down Clark’s spine when he saw the reverence with which she touched the symbol. If he ever had any doubts about her, that simple gesture put them to rest.
Running her hand along the other symbols, “What do these mean? And look at the size of the ship. It would only hold…”
“…an infant,” Clark completed for her. “Lois, I don’t know what the symbols mean. I can’t read them. All I know is I’m from Krypton. The ship…”
Clark trailed off as he heard the outer door close with a snap. “Someone’s coming! Quick, turn off your flashlight, grab the side of the ship and stay perfectly still. I’ll go fix the safe and turn off the light.”
Clark could hear them working the inside door combination lock as he supersped to the open cabinet and relocked it. The lock didn’t hang quite right since he had broken the inside, but it might pass a quick glance. More telling was the light on the desk. Turning it off, he sped back to Lois.
Lois wanted to question how he would fix the safe and light, but she had just turned her light off and felt for the side of the ship. Before she could finish the thought, he was back and lifting her over to stand behind some of the biggest pieces of the supposed UFOs.
Thompson and his men came in like they owned the place. That simple act proved this was theirs. They were still in their M-I-B suits. Even Clark had a little trouble looking through all the hardware between him and Lois and the cadre of alien hunters. They flicked on the large overhead fluorescent lights and he was gratified to see they were still in shadow. He put his mouth near Lois’ ear and whispered, “Here, sit on my lap. They could be a while.”
Sliding back onto the lap that she suddenly felt under her, she turned her head and whispered into his ear, “What are you sitting on?” She felt his shiver as her breath touched his ear.
Enjoying this game in spite of the imminent danger, he turned his head to her ear and whispered back, “Nothing.”
They both held perfectly still as Thompson’s men stored away some weapons in locked lockers and changed to casual civilian clothes. Even Clark was surprised at the amount of hardware they took off their persons; guns hidden in ankle holsters and under both arms. Seeing relatively clearly in that area of the vast room, he noticed a large number of military assault rifles. Wondering if there was a connection to the mysterious crates that had come into Metropolis recently, he determined he would get some numbers off them before they left.
In the increased lighting in the warehouse now, he noticed a large roll up door at the rear of the building. He knew all this hardware hadn’t come through the front door and had expected such a door. Once he got Lois home safely, he was determined to come back to get his ship and take it to the Farm.
*+*+*+*+*+*+
Tbc
Artemis
