Previously
Clark looked at the huge rock and thought, “I look like an ant next to this.” Matching his trajectory to that of the asteroid, he moved to a near-earth point and slowly pushed, increasing his strength to slowly change the momentum vector of the rock.
Success!
He also increased its slight retrograde rotation to take advantage of any possible Yarkovsky effect. Idly, he wondered what Daitch would think of his education now.
Focused on his work, he did not see the missile launched from Wyoming coming right at him. Quite happy with his work and eager to get back to Lois, he turned to start home when the nuclear warhead exploded on the asteroid.
Clark stared into the heart of hell. It was like looking into 1000 suns. He wasn’t sure even a superman could survive. “Lois, I love you,” was his last thought before he blacked out as his body was pushed violently away into empty space.
Chapter 12. Has the Moon Lost Her Memory?
Pete was at his telescope at KU, tracking Clark’s progress as best he could. He was almost blinded by the light level through the telescope when the nuclear explosion shattered the asteroid.
“Oh my God. Clark, I hope you really are inhumanly tough.”
*+*+*+*+*+*+
In the Daily Planet bullpen everyone was waiting for news of the moving of the asteroid so that it would miss Earth. They were all startled when static burst from the speakers. It was quickly cut off by the EPRAD controllers. Ground Control announced over the feed, “This is EPRAD control. We have lost transmission with Superman. Also we have visual of a very bright light at the asteroid position.” In the background, excited voices could be heard discussing what had happened.
The tension in the newsroom was palpable. Everyone looked at everyone else and then zeroed in on Lois.
Lois was as astonished as everyone else. The plan was for a nice quiet change in trajectory. What was the bright light? Lois thought up the best excuse she could on short notice. “His microphone went out. He's fine. He's got to be.”
Lois was saying this as if to reassure herself more than anyone else. Clearly, he might not be fine. Somebody had to do something and Perry took charge. “We're professionals. We have a job to do. Let's get back to doing it.”
Going into the small conference room and shutting the door, Lois took out Clark’s special cell phone that he had left with her and keyed Pete’s number.
“Pete?”
Pete’s voice was shaking as he answered the phone he recognized as Clark’s. “Hi, Lois.”
“What was that bright light we all just saw?”
“Are you alone?”
“Yes. In a conference room with the door shut. The bullpen is chaotic.”
“Give me a sec to replay a recording to be sure of what I think I saw.”
“Yes, go ahead.” Lois drummed her fingers on the table as she waited anxiously.
Shortly, Pete was back. “Yes, it was what I thought I saw.”
Impatiently, Lois asked, “And that was what?”
After a deep breath, Pete said slowly, “Lois, a missile with a nuclear warhead was fired at the NEO from the northeast, my guess from one of the missile silos in Wyoming operated by NORAD.”
“WE fired a missile at SUPERMAN?”
“Yes, that’s what I think.” Pete thought, ‘It sure wasn’t from Canada.’ Simultaneously, he nodded his head, a gesture he knew Lois couldn’t see.
Collapsing down to the table because she was shocked and distraught, Lois whispered into the phone, “Can he survive that?”
“I don’t know,” came the soft reply. “That’s one thing I’m sure he never tested on himself.”
Sitting up straight and taking a deep breath, Lois asked the ultimate question. “Did he divert the asteroid before he…” She couldn’t complete the thought.
“Initial indications were that he did indeed do it.”
“Well, that’s a relief anyway.”
“Not really. There’s a new problem now.”
‘Oh, God, no.’ Lois asked the question she knew she had to ask, but dreaded. “What’s that?”
“The nuclear explosion split the asteroid into several pieces. There’s a very large chunk headed directly for Earth with more speed due to the energy in the explosion. The rest will probably miss the Earth totally.”
“A smaller but still deadly chunk?” Lois wasn’t sure how many more shocks she could absorb.
“That’s right. We’re not out of the woods yet.”
“What about Cl…Superman? Is he alright?”
“I don’t know. There was so much debris and it was so far away, I can’t see him. He did have an air supply though. And a fire retardant cape. But that’s not much protection.”
Tears started to fall from Lois’ eyes and she began to choke up. This really did seem like the end of the world. “There’s going to be even more chaos in Metropolis now when the public finds out. Just to let you know, since we may not get to talk much, I really did enjoy meeting you last weekend. You’ve meant a lot to Clark over the years, I know.” Clark had taken Lois by Pete’s office on the way back to Metropolis after their weekend at the Farm.
Pete was choking up himself. “It was great meeting you too, Lois. I could tell how much you mean to Clark. If I find out anything more, I’ll give you a call on this phone.”
“You do that, Pete. Thanks, I’d appreciate it. And when I find him, I’ll give you a call and let you know.” There was no “if” in that positive statement.
Lois ended the phone call and looked around for something to dry her tears. Finding some paper napkins from the all night food session, she tried to make herself presentable. She couldn’t let people know she had more knowledge than the EPRAD officials.
*+*+*+*+*+*+
Six hours later, the Daily Planet newsroom was quiet and empty except for Perry and Jimmy. The news of the new chunk of doom had cast a pall over the city.
“Chief, we don’t know Superman didn’t make it away from that inferno,” Jimmy protested to his boss.
It was a discussion that Perry had been having with Jimmy for hours now and he was getting tired of it. “Jimbo, you know nothing makes it out of a nuclear inferno.”
“Yeah, but this is Superman! He does amazing, unbelievable things on a daily basis,” Jimmy protested again, waving his arms about. “Someone should at least try looking for him in case he made it back to Earth.”
“What, just drive around randomly in the city looking for a big hole?”
“You got a better idea?” Jimmy shot the comment back at his boss. More placating, he continued, “Let me call Star Labs and see if they have an idea where he could have landed. I don’t trust those EPRAD guys anymore.”
Perry sighed. “You do that, Jimmy. Then we’ll go looking. We owe him that much. As we used to say in ‘Nam, ‘Leave no man behind.’”
The northeastern cities got dark early this time of year. Perry and Jimmy circled the more abandoned areas of Metropolis, figuring that anything landing in a populated area would still make the news.
“Chief, there it is!!” Jimmy exclaimed excitedly as he gestured to an old billboard advertising vacations in the Caribbean. There was a large hole torn through the center of the billboard. “He’s here, somewhere. He made it back, alright.” Perry wished he had Jimmy’s confidence with that slim evidence. They drove around the area, but did not find any evidence of Superman arriving back on Earth.
*+*+*+*+*+*+
The early evening ruckus in the Suicide Slum area around Hobbs Bay had finally quieted down as Lonnie, a homeless man, pushed his shopping cart carrying all his worldly possession down a dark alley behind a warehouse. He stopped suddenly, surprised at the gaping crater in the pavement. Even more surprising, the crater was occupied. It was occupied by a naked man who simply sat there, looking confused. Lonnie knew his home territory pretty well and he knew that the crater hadn’t been there before tonight.
Lonnie called out, “Hey, man, whatcha doin' there? You gotta be freezin'.” Lonnie treasured his meager possessions, but he couldn’t let a man freeze in this weather. He found one of his better shirts and a pair of pants and held them out to the naked stranger. “Here, you put these on. They're clean. I only wore 'em a couple o’ times.
The man looked up at Lonnie and then down at the hole he was sitting in and realized he had no clothes. He searched around himself, as if looking for his missing clothes and came up with a small piece of red fabric that was too small to cover anything.
Clark pulled on the pants and then began to button up the shirt. “Thanks for the clothes.” He said it automatically, although he really didn’t feel that cold. He stood in the crater and zipped up the pants. There was no belt and they hung awkwardly around his waist. He might have to hold them up as he walked. An image of teenagers in clothes four sizes too large for them, continuously walking around holding up their pants, came to him. Is that the way clothes were supposed to fit here? Wherever ‘here’ was.
”No problem. Where you from?”
Looking around the crater, Clark realized he didn’t know who he was, much less where he was. But evidently he could speak. “I don't know.”
“Yeah. I been around myself. You hungry?”
“I think so. Maybe.” He didn’t feel hungry, but the thought of food felt good, like the warmth of the clothes.
“If we get a move on, we can catch us some breakfast at the shelter.”
Somehow, the shelter didn’t sound good. “You go ahead,” he started.
Lonnie broke in with a vehement objection. “Don't put down no shelter, brother.
You been sleepin' in the altogether inside a pile a junk.” Lonnie pawed around in his belongings and handed Clark a pair of glasses. “Here. Put these on. Make you look
smarter.”
The thought of glasses felt good and right, like the clothes and food, so Clark obediently put them on.
Lonnie began pushing his shopping cart back up the alley and Clark clambered out of the hole and followed him. Lonnie continued talking like a tour guide.
“This thing in the sky hits, we all gonna be sleepin' rough, way I see it. I'm Lonnie. You got a name?
“I... I can't remember,” Clark replied.
“Been there myself, man,” Lonnie said with a knowing nod of his head. “Many times.”
*+*+*+*+*+*+
Earlier in the day, Lex Luthor had stood on his balcony on the highest building in Metropolis and solemnly surveyed the cityscape as the sun set. Nigel St. John had stood a respectful few feet behind him as always. Even Luthor had been surprised by the use of a nuclear warhead. There were other players in the game he didn’t know about and he didn’t like that.
Now Luthor was in a philosophical mood. “You begin to take it for granted. You assume that every day the sun will rise in the east and set in the west. You assume that every night the moon will be there for your inspiration. You assume that spring will follow winter. I shall use this moment as a constant reminder for the future. Assume nothing.”
St. John’s mellifluous British accent rolled over him. “Hope for the best, plan for the
worst.”
Nodding, he answered, “That has always been my credo.”
Turning to his factotum, he continued, “Nigel, see to it that Miss Lane is 'invited' to our little party this evening.”
“Of course, sir.” There was almost a ‘sire’ lingering on the air as Nigel bowed his way out to go execute his master’s orders.
*+*+*+*+*+*+
Lois had not really wanted to go see Luthor that evening, but she was going nuts waiting for word of Clark. They still had a story to write about Luthor and his suspicious activities, so she went, thinking it would take her mind off of Clark.
Lex had met her in the lobby of the LexCorp building, which was unusual, and escorted her dramatically to a small elevator in a rear office. Thankfully, St. John was nowhere to be seen. The small elevator plunged rapidly into the depths of the earth. Lois’ feet almost left the ground with the speed of the elevator, but to her relief it slowed to a gentle halt at its destination.
Luthor now led Lois down a long, sterile hallway. Its white walls and fluorescent lighting were making it seem cold and scary. On the walls are schematic drawings of a complete underground city. Then he stopped before a double door of simulated burl wood, rich in contrast with the white walls.
“You are standing precisely five hundred meters below Metropolis street level. And are surrounded by sixteen inch reinforced concrete walls originally designed to
survive a nuclear attack.”
“In other words, a bunker,” Lois replied, trying to remain unemotional. But a small voice was crying in her head, ‘The rat. Maybe he sent up the missile that killed, no strike that, hurt Clark.’
“I prefer to think of it as an underground...'Ark.' We have room for two hundred people. And,” he waived dramatically, “supplies to last three years, along with tools and implements for farming and manufacture when we re-emerge.”
Lois was incredulous. This was unimaginable, even for Luthor and his excesses. Suppressing a snort of derision, she said evenly, “So, even if the world dies, you live?”
Lex moved closer to her, nearly pinning her to the still unopened door. Softly, persuasively, he continued to outline his plan. “The survival of a species does not depend on the survival of all its members. Indeed, were the dinosaurs possessed of a somewhat larger brain, they, too, might have escaped their fate. Fortunately for us, they did not, and now, the next chance is ours.”
‘The fink!’ Feigning innocence, Lois asked, “Do you want me to... write about this?”
Smoothly, Lex protested his innocence. “No, no. I seek no publicity. In fact, considering the circumstances, advertising the existence of this would seem to be rather cruel.”
Crossing her arms, Lois asked, “Then why am I here?”
Luthor moved to a panel beside the door and keyed in a code, then returned to the center of the double doors and opened them with a flourish.
As Lex and Lois entered, a faux fire lit in the fireplace and an artificial balcony scene lit behind Lex’s desk. The room was an exact copy of Lex’s home upstairs.
“This is your apartment upstairs.”
“I remembered how you admired it after the White Orchid Ball.” Lex motioned her further into the room and continued persuasively, “I'm offering you a chance, Lois, to be a passenger on this ark. To be my special guest on Mankind's next great adventure.”
Luthor moved to the balcony doors and threw them open. Outside, it was a gloriously sunny day.
“It's an illusion, of course, but, nonetheless, better than a wall. To help you remember the way things were, how they might be again.”
‘When Hell freezes over, you louse.’ As innocently as possible in her present mood, Lois asked, “Why me, Lex?”
“Because I care. And, I must admit, because three years will be a long time without... 'companionship.'”
Lois looked at Luthor as if just realizing what was being offered. Life, with strings attached. “Lex, I don't know...”
With an air of sealing the deal, Lex leaned in and added, “I added a separate bedroom just for you with all the luxurious trimmings I can afford.” The he moved back and finished, “Think about it. Wander about this set of rooms while you think of an answer. Your potential suite is past the master on the left. I'll await your decision.”
Lex then went to the door and turned with a last thought. “Oh, if you’re wondering about all the elaborate plumbing here, I have installed an immense and very pure water supply. We have our own greenhouses using gray water. It’s a prototype for a long duration spaceship, should we ever be able to get to space again after this.”
Luthor exited, softly closing the door and leaving Lois alone in the room. She walked
around, looking at more details she didn’t have time to see on the clandestine examination after the White Orchid Ball. She idly noted that the valuable weapons display site was there, absent of the weapons themselves. Shuddering at the thought of examining the offered suite, she quickly went out the door and called out to Lex. “Lex!”
Partway down the hall, where he planned to stop and wait for Lois at the elevator, he turned around with a hopeful expression. “May I send someone to pack your personal belongings?”
Shaking her head in the negative, Lois explained in what she hoped was a reasonable manner, “No. I've got a partner who needs me. I've got friends at the paper who are like family to me. And I'm not giving up on Superman either. I can't stay here.” Not now, not ever, she vowed to herself.
“Lois, mob rule is not a pretty sight. You don't have to see it.”
“Yes, I do. If what that asteroid does is destroy the world as we know it, I have to be there to see what takes its place. It may be the best comeback in history.”
“Or the fastest knock-out.”
“Either way, I have to see for myself.” Lois finished with finality as she approached Lex and the elevator out of this luxurious dungeon.
“Well, the offer is open for a while, but not forever.”
Lois shuddered at that thought, eager to leave, but just as eager not to show it.
*+*+*+*+*+*+
In a police station interrogation room, Clark sat passively at the table, watching the lady psychologist across from him take notes of his answers to her questions. His short term memory was fine, because he remembered that she said her name was Dr. Jerri McCorkle, but his long term memory was gone.
Dr. McCorkle asked another question. “Do you remember having a favorite color?”
Clark responded, “Blue. No, wait a minute. Red. I don't know, Doctor. Maybe yellow.”
“Don't try so hard,” the doctor advised, “there's no right or wrong answer. Let's try
something else. Everything you remember about the last few days.”
“I remember Lonnie the homeless man who gave me my clothes.” In demonstration, he tugged on his shirt front. “Then the shelter. And then the police officer taking me here. Some tests the police did. That's it, I'm afraid.”
“Did you eat at the shelter?”
Clark nodded in the affirmative.
Satisfied, the doctor continued. “Fine. Now, if I told you your name was Clark Kent and that you were a reporter for the Daily Planet, what would your reaction be?”
“Clark Kent? Do you know that for a fact? I don’t know. Something seems missing there, but I don’t know what.”
On the other side of the one-way mirror, Bill Henderson was watching the by-play intently. He remembered Clark Kent the FBI agent as well as Clark Kent the faux Daily Planet reporter helping track down Lex Luthor’s unlawful dealings. Both men were lost here. Maybe there was a third man involved too. Lonnie had been happy to show him the crater where he had found Clark. A naked Clark who was sitting in a large hole in and under the pavement in an alley in Suicide Slum with no idea where he had been. As Lonnie departed the scene, Bill noticed an old billboard in the distance advertising Caribbean vacations. There was a very large elliptical hole in it.
He had moved around until he stood in a straight line to the hole in the billboard, then he turned around 180 degrees and looked at where he was standing. Not to his amazement, he had been standing directly in line with the near edge, center and far edge of the crater. Catching a glimpse of something, he had jumped down into the crater and picked it up. It was a small piece of stiff red material with a short gold line on it that had been stitched in. Placing the material in his pocket, he managed to clamber out of the hole but not without getting a lot of sand in his shoes.
Now, Bill turned as Lois steamed up to him in the observation room, mouth working already.
“Henderson, this better be good. I'm working the asteroid story with my partner AWOL and...” Suddenly she saw Clark though the glass.
Henderson watched her expression intently when she saw him. Relief washed over her face.
Lois turned to him, “What's he doing here?”
“He doesn't know. We picked him up at the Fifth Street Mission. I was working when they brought him in. I gave you a call and here you are.”
Henderson spoke into the room to room intercom. “Doctor?”
Clark was here! Safe and alive! Lois waved wildly and called “Clark!”
Henderson replied with a sardonic, “He can't see you, Lois. It's a one-way. It wouldn't matter, though. Apparently, he doesn't remember a thing. His name, where he works, me, you.”
Dr. McCorkle emerged from the room and Henderson introduced them. “Doctor Jerri McCorkle; Lois Lane from the Daily Planet. Doc's our department shrink.”
“He has no memory of who he is? What could have caused this?” Lois was worried now. Superman had a job to finish and he wasn’t up to the task. Maybe Lex was going to need his bunker after all. Lois firmly pushed that thought to the back of her mind. She had him, now she just needed to make him remember.
At Henderson’s nod of permission, the doctor gave her diagnosis. “There are several possibilities. I'd guess anxiety caused by this asteroid could be a factor. On the other hand, these cases are often triggered by some kind of physical trauma.”
Henderson noticed Lois’ face go white. “I don’t know of any physical trauma recently. Is he going to be okay?”
“Well, physically, he's fine. Whether he's going to regain his memory immediately, I don't know. Based on the battery of questions we ask, it seems Clark suffers from what we now call the 'Superman Complex.'”
Henderson said, “Don't we all?”
The doctor clarified, “What I mean is that he's a chronic do-gooder who thinks he can handle anything. This kind of setback can be very frustrating.”
“Just tell me what to do.”
“Clark needs to be surrounded by familiar people, and do familiar things. It will come back to him in time. Be patient with him.”
Henderson looked at Lois, “That's asking a lot, doc.”
Lois replied defensively, “I can do patient.”
Taking her leave, the doctor shut the outside door and left Henderson and Lois staring at each other.
Henderson lifted his left eyebrow and titled his head toward Clark in obvious inquiry.
Lois kept staring at him, then coming to a decision, slowly blinked both her eyes in a yes gesture, feeling that Henderson could be more of a help and time was running short.
Henderson smiled at her blink, then lifted a shoulder in a ‘what now’ gesture.
Lois pointed her index finger at him and gestured back to herself, indicating “you tell me” or “any ideas?”
Bill Henderson nodded, then cleared his throat. “I don’t know if you know this Lois, but the Suicide Slum area where the homeless man found Clark, in a crater, by the way…”
Lois put her hand over her mouth in an “Oh NO” gesture.
“…was contaminated some years back by improperly protected medical nuclear material. So we routinely test the people at the Fifth Street Mission for radiation exposure and Clark came back clean. He has no trace of radioactivity on him above the normal human level.”
Lois knees almost buckled in relief. It was her turn to clear her throat. As a bonus, she smiled a relieved smile at him. “Oh, that’s good to know, Bill.”
Bill took her arm gently and headed toward the door of the interrogation room. “So why don’t you take Clark to the Daily Planet and get him around familiar things and people. Meanwhile, I’ll arrange to take him by his other office later to see if that additional scene helps. Does that sound good?”
Lois leaned into him briefly. “Thanks, Bill. That does. I feel a bit alone and adrift here. It’s not often you see disaster snatched out of the jaws of success.”
Digging in her voluminous purse, Lois took out her reporter’s notebook and scratched down a phone number and then ripped out the page and handed it to Bill. “Here, if you need me, use this number. Don’t give it to anyone else. It’s not mine, it belongs to a very special person who has just done a lot for this world.”
Releasing her arm, Henderson took the paper. “Really? He has a phone?”
“Well, he did, until he gave it to me. There aren’t many people who know this number.”
“Got it, Lois. You need help getting him to the Planet?”
“No, I’ve got my Jeep and I always drive anyway.”
“I’ll just bet you do.” With that, Henderson smiled and left the outer room.
Opening the door to the interior room Lois looked over at Clark.
A strange man inside Clark’s body looked up at her with no recognition in his eyes.
Lois’ heart shattered into a million pieces and an intense fear gripped her. She had lost her friend, her partner and her lover in one gigantic blow. But the world needed him, and by God, she would see that it got him back.
*+*+*+*+*+*+
A/N The Chapter title is a line from "Memory" by Andrew Lloyd Weber from his musical "Cats"
Tbc
Artemis
