My apologies for being so late. RL has been a bear!Previous chapters:
TOC Summary to date:
Superman has saved the Earth from both parts of the Nightfall asteroid and is celebrated as a hero by the public. All is not rosy in Clark-land, though. In meeting Lois’ sister Lucy, Clark learned of Admiral Lane’s narrow definition of suitable husbands for his daughters. Clark is also smarting from his firing from the FBI, although he tries to hide that from Lois. In general he is feeling more confident in his abilities and his invulnerability. That invulnerability is about to be tested as there are rumors of suspicious activity around his farm.
Two weeks after Nightfall.
Previously:Perry pointed to them one after the other. “Sounds like a story to me. Lois here is the experienced reporter, but it involves your farm, Clark. So you should both go and find out what the feds want. Can you find out anything from the FBI, fed to fed?”
Shaking his head no, Clark replied, “No, all my links are severed since they fired me for losing my memory.” His tone told Perry and Lois he still wasn’t happy about that whole situation.
Lois replied, “Let Clark go then. I'll stay and watch for Superman and write up his stories here.”
Clark turned to look at Lois in puzzlement and then noticed a hand gesture that indicated she would explain later.
Perry continued. “Now, Lois let's keep an open mind here. 'The Poisoning of America.' I'm seeing a Planet special investigation!”
Gesturing dismissively, Lois continued in the same vein. “Really? I'm seeing guys in overalls discussing hog futures.”
Now it was Clark’s turn for a soft cough.
Perry countered her argument with, “Private property rights versus the public good.”
Continuing her fake protest, Lois reposted, “We've got that story here in Metropolis.”
Slipping into an apparently familiar cat and mouse game, Perry said, “Urban and rural. It's the same story. Same problem. Sometimes it's easier to understand in a smaller setting. A microcosm as it were.”
Lois returned serve as if the dirt of the farm was clinging to her feet. “It’s Smallville! I can see having a glimpse of ritual crop worship and going to a ‘Corn Festival’.”
“Hey there,” Clark protested softly.
Slamming the previously waving arm, Perry hit it onto his desk. “Okay. I'm done arguing. Yeah, I got you, Lois. That's probably how the first reporter at Love Canal felt. Say, didn't that reporter pull in a Pulitzer Prize?”
*+*+*+*+*+*+
Chapter 18. 'Cause There's No One Like You In The Universe Lois could tell Clark was not happy when they left Perry’s office. When he gently pulled her back into the conference room, she knew something was really bothering him. He rounded on her when she had shut the door to the room. He still looked calm, but she could actually feel the leashed emotion within him.
“Lois, what was that all about in there? Admittedly, Smallville is not the center of the universe, but you’ve been there. It’s not as bad as you said in there.”
“Clark, I’m Mad Dog Lane,” she replied in a calm reasonable voice, taking a seat at the end of the table. This forced him to sit also in order to not loom over her. “I had to keep up the act or Perry would think I’ve lost my edge! That’s all I was doing. He expects me to give him a hard time like that and I don’t want him to think I’ve changed.”
Clark still stared at her, and then his look softened as he visibly relaxed. Smiling a little like he accepted her reasoning, he said, “So, let me get this straight. Fierce Lois Lane doesn’t want to show her gooey inner shell in the office?” He just shook his head at what was the puzzle of Lois Lane. It definitely kept him on his toes.
Lois reached and patted his chest in relief. “Got it in one.”
They stared at each other. “So what now?” They both said it together and then smiled at each other.
Clark fished out the special cell phone and explained, “Since we have some privacy here, let me call Pete and find out what he knows.” After what seemed like a long while, Clark closed the phone and slipped it back in his pocket, a worried frown on his face. “No answer. Even for his answering machine. I need to get there quick, Lois!”
“I’m coming with you.”
Clark shook his head, “No, no it might be too dangerous.”
Lois protested, “We’re supposed to write the story together. I’m supposed to be there too.”
“But I can get there quicker!”
Trying to reason with him, Lois leaned forward earnestly and said, “Clark, you’ve got to learn we’re a team. We can do both things at once. If you take us there quickly,” she made that wavy motion with her hand again, “we’ll be there early and can figure out what’s happening.” She looked at him with her large brown eyes and said softly, even though they were alone, “You can do an aerial survey and see what is going on and where.”
“Aren’t we supposed to fly on a plane together to get there? I can go assess the situation and come back and then fly out with you!”
Lois dismissed his protest with a different wave of her hand. “Let’s just go. If we don’t charge the Planet for the tickets, they won’t care how we get there.”
“How does that work?”
“Don’t you have frequent flyer miles?”
“Yeah, sure. I had to fly in a plane for the FBI.” He stopped a minute and then added, “And I hated it. Cramped in a sardine can with no control.”
Not surprised at that at all, Lois added, “So do I. But mostly because it takes so long.” She took his hand in a plea. “So we say we used our miles in a gesture of generosity and get there faster!”
Clark looked at her dubiously, but decided to bow to her experience at the paper. “Let’s go, then. You need to pack.”
Since Clark had flown her to the Planet this morning, they exited into the stairwell, ostensibly to go down, but in reality to go up. Clark spun into the Suit and deposited Lois into her living room through the window left ajar. That reminded Clark of Lucy’s arrival two weeks ago. “So how is Lucy doing at your folks these days?”
“Surprisingly well. Maybe a little of Mom’s TLC was what she needed.”
*+*+*+*+*+*+
Lois was waiting impatiently for Clark in front of her window, her packed duffel at her feet. Surprised to hear a knock on her door, she went over and looked through the security lens to find Clark standing on the other side. Hastily unbolting all her locks, she opened the door for him. When she had closed the door, she said, “I had the window open for you. I’m surprised you are all in black.” Her tone was almost chiding but her scan of his outfit belied her tone. She openly admired his look in black tight jeans, leather jacket, watch cap and black scarf.
“I figured that I didn’t dare flash cape over Smallville. After what I overheard from Thompson and Zeitlin, I think they are building a trap of some kind. What that would be, I don’t really know.”
“Let me go lock the window, then we’re off.” On the word, Lois locked her living room window and then ushered Clark, carrying her duffle back over his shoulder, out the door and did her locking routine. When done, she looked to Clark to determine where to next. He gestured to the stairwell and said softly, “the roof.”
As they emerged on to the roof, Lois mock-griped, “You know for somebody who gets flown everywhere, I sure get a lot of exercise in stairwells.”
As he picked her up in his arms, a feat he always felt pleasure doing, his mouth quirked in appreciation of her attempt to lighten the serious situation. Her sense of humor was one of the things he loved about her. “Just another one of the forms of exercise we do together,” he grinned wolfishly at her.
“Now, tuck your face into the scarf at my neck. We’re going up fast.” He loved the feeling as she snuggled into him. Just her presence had done so much to make his life happier and more fulfilled.
Going as fast as he dared carrying Lois, Clark soon set them down on the outskirts of Baldwin City, Kansas. They walked quickly to Pete’s apartment in a ‘mother-in-law’ detached house in a quiet neighborhood. Clark could see that Pete wasn’t there before they reached the door. What he did see appalled him. His apartment had been ransacked and his computer was missing.
Seeing that Lois was unzipping her lock pick kit, Clark stayed her hand and said, “Hold on Lois. I have a key.” Producing a key ring with a substantial number of keys on it, Clark selected one and opened Pete’s door. Walking through the detris that was now Pete’s living room cum study, Clark anxiously looked for any clues as to who did this.
Walking through to the back door, Lois called out as she spied the now absent door, “Looks like they broke in the back. And not too subtly either.”
Returning to the living room, she glanced at the bedroom and noticed that everything was out of the closet and the mattress was off the bed. Looking over to Clark, she saw him worriedly looking around the living room.
Clark stopped suddenly and reached down under some of Pete’s papers on the floor. He came up holding a bullet casing and displayed it to Lois. “A bullet casing! Someone fired a gun at Pete!”
“But they forgot to police their casings,” Lois commented.
Clark turned and stared at Lois.
“What? I watch those forensics shows on TV. The more you know, the better stories you write.”
Lois watched Clark peer intently around the walls and ceiling of the room. If he had had his glasses on, she could imagine him pulling them down to use his special vision.
“There,” Clark exclaimed and pointed to the back upper corner of the room. He said with obvious relief, “They fired at the ceiling to intimidate him. Thank god.”
“But that means they have him – somewhere.” Out of curiosity, she asked, “What’s the caliber of the bullet?”
Really looking at the bullet in his hand, Clark answered. “It’s a 5.56 NATO round. Probably from an M-4 or M-16. Both of those are assault rifles. The kind we saw in that warehouse on Bessolo Blvd.”
Lois turned and looked at Clark. He was staring at her for some reason. Was that fear in his eyes? At first, Lois took it for worry about Pete. But that thought changed at Clark’s next words.
“Lois, I’ve got to take you back to Metropolis!”
‘What, why in the world…’ Lois thought. Then she simply voiced her thought. “Why in the world do you want to take me back to Metropolis? This is still my story too!”
“It’s too dangerous for you. I’m invulnerable, you’re not.”
“Well, neither is Pete,” Lois gestured around the trashed apartment. “And neither is your family!” Almost flinching at the increased pain in Clark’s eyes at her words, Lois instead stepped toward him to soothe and reason with him, if that were possible.
She patted his chest and continued, looking into his worried eyes. “Look Clark, I’ve been an investigative reporter longer than you have. I do understand that you fear for my life, but I can’t run and hide. I have a drive to bring down the bad guys as big as yours, if not bigger. I understand you had to take care of Nightfall by yourself because you were the only one who could. But that doesn’t mean you have to do everything by yourself. I’m here too.”
Turning and walking away from him to give them some distance and to keep her from yielding to the pleading that she was sure to come, she waved her arms around and assumed a business-like tone. “We have to locate your family for sure. They may be perfectly safe; we don’t know; we don’t have the facts here. We need information and facts.”
Somberly looking around the room she acquiesced. “Agreed, it looks like Pete might be in trouble from Bureau 39, but why? Why would George Thompson, assuming it is the same nutjob that came to the Planet, kidnap your brother? What you need to do is call Rita and your folks and find out what the situation here is.” She looked back into his eyes and found the fire dying down in them. Reason appeared to be reasserting itself.
Clark’s jaw unclamped and he took a deep breath and nodded, then turned and fished his cell phone out of his pocket and flicked it open, picked up Pete’s overstuffed heavy chair one handed, turned it upright and sat down heavily.
Lois realized he had taken a really deep breath because the strewn papers had moved on the floor and she had felt the pull toward him. ‘What an amazing man he is, but for all of that, he still is a man.’ Sitting up on the bare surface of Pete’s desk, she watched as Clark hung his head and punched in the code for Rita’s phone.
At the sound of Rita’s hello, relief flooded through Clark. “Rita!” He cleared his throat. “Are you alright?”
He felt distress at the sound of Rita’s subdued voice. “Yes. Mom, Dad and I are at Aunt Bessie’s in Florence!” Clark could hear the near sobs. “Men in combat gear came to the farm, bringing Pete with them in handcuffs! It was awful! They said they were looking for something and were going to tear apart our farm to find it. Dad wasn’t there, he was over in Smallville at his office, so we went by and picked him up. Then I called your apartment and then your office. They said you didn’t work there anymore! What’s happening, Clark?”
Clark buried his face in his hand in dismay. “I forgot to give you this phone number. Pete had it, but I guess he didn’t have time to use his phone. Lois and I are at his place in Baldwin now. It’s trashed. So Pete’s at your home with the bad guys?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“Where’s Dad?”
“He’s here with us,” Rita repeated. “We went by his office and picked him up.” It was unusual for her to have to repeat anything to Clark. “He told Sheriff Harris, but I don’t really know what she can do.”
“What about my farm? Are they tearing that up too?”
“Not that I know of. They seemed fixed on ours for some reason. I just took some, er…stuff over to your house and left it on the dining room table as usual not too long ago. They didn’t see me coming to your place or pay me any attention, like following me back to Florence.”
Clark realized that Rita was being cautious in relaying that information because his parents still didn’t know about Superman. She must have left him some new Suits. The one from Nightfall B had been totally trashed.
“I think our next step is to go over to my farm and find out what’s happening from there.”
“Be careful, Clark. These guys are not nice. It’s just a shame you know.”
“What is, sis? Aside from the obvious.”
“Hang on a sec.”
Clark could hear the sound of a door closing and a toilet flushing.
Rita was whispering anyway. “I didn’t want Mom and Dad to hear. I think it is just terrible that you save the world from Nightfall and they come and take Pete and make life miserable for us.”
Clark automatically invoked his Superman voice at the sound of her distress. “I’ll take care of it, Rita. I promise.” He could hear the sound of a sniffle and a nose blow into a handkerchief.
“I know you will, Clark. I’m sorry, I’m just upset.”
“It’s all right, Rita. You have cause to be.”
“Can I tell them you called?”
“No, not yet. Not until I have something more concrete to report.”
Rita took a big breath and then said, “All right. Oh, I forgot. I left a present for Lois at your house too.”
Clark was surprised. “Why, thanks, Rita. What’s the occasion?”
“It’s just a gift girl to girl. I hope she enjoys it. Take care, big bro, and find out what’s really happening. Gotta go, love and hugs.”
“To you too, Rita. I’ll call you soon.”
Lois saw him close the phone and asked eagerly, “What’s the news?”
“My family’s safe. All except Pete. They took him to the Ross farm, probably to interrogate him or something.”
“Whatever for?”
“Excessive pesticides?” Clark shrugged. “I don’t know. Pete helped me on Nightfall and knows Professor Daitch, but how that is connected with these guys, I have no clue.”
“Bureau 39?”
“Who?”
“That’s what I call Thompson’s goons now, remember?”
Clark scrubbed his face. “Right. I forgot.”
Lois was puzzled, but said nothing. Clark was clearly emotionally involved in this thing. And she was too. She really liked Rita and she loved Clark. They were part of her family now.
*+*+*+*+*+*+
Clark flew to his farm, circling around to come in from the opposite side to the Ross’ farm. He came in high and went down fast, Lois’ head cupped tightly into the black scarf around his neck.
They landed down gently on the back porch, which faced away from the Ross’ farm. Again he fished out the big key chain from his jean’s pocket and unlocked the back door. They moved in silently, warily, just in case things weren’t as safe as they seemed.
Clark stopped and x-rayed around the house and said curtly, “It appears no one has been here since I was here last. Well, no one but Rita, I guess.” He saw the packages on the dining room table through the walls.
Reaching over, Clark flipped the generator switch by the back door and they both could hear it start up but he knew the generator couldn’t be heard over at the Ross’.
Moving on into the front part of the house, he saw a large package on the dining room table and beside it another smaller package. Looking into the big package with his vision, Clark could see three Suits and a new pair of boots. He didn’t look into the smaller package, assuming that was the gift from Rita for Lois.
Lois walked over and picked up the smaller package, covered in pretty paper with a card that said succinctly, “To Lois, love Rita.”
Clark said, “Well, I’m going to go fly high over the Ross’ and see what’s going on. There are trees not too far from the house and I can hide in there, so it may be a while.”
Nodding absently, Lois picked up her gift and turned to give Clark a goodbye kiss, then turned back to the table and peeled the wrapping paper off of the gift box. “Oh,” she exclaimed to herself as she saw the beautiful Art Deco jewelry box inside, “it’s gorgeous.” Slowly she lifted the lid to peer inside.
After giving Lois a good-bye kiss, Clark walked to the back door. All of a sudden he was hit with a wave of excruciating pain the likes of which he had never felt in his life. He couldn’t think. He couldn’t walk and fell to his knees.
Too weak to stay upright, he fell on his face halfway to the back door with a loud thump.
Lois looked inside the jewelry box and saw the beautiful green necklace and earrings. With excitement, she lifted the necklace out and fastened it around her neck. The stones were so pretty, they almost glowed on their own. She turned to find a mirror to admire the necklace around her neck, when she heard a loud heavy thump.
Confused, Lois looked toward the sound of the thump and saw Clark laid out on the floor, halfway to the back door. “Clark! What’s wrong?” She heard no answer.
‘Why is Clark lying on the floor when he is in a hurry to find out about Pete?’ she wondered to herself. ‘Why would invulnerable Clark fall down on a flat floor?’
Running over to him, her necklace bouncing around her neck, she kneeled by him and leaned over him to see what was wrong. “Clark! What happened to you?”
As she moved closer, Clark began to groan and curl into a ball on the floor. “Pain!” he managed to grind out. “Dunno. Worse. Move…” He looked like he was going into convulsions.
In a panic, Lois moved closer and stroked his fevered forehead. He was sweating profusely. She had never seen him sweat like this.
“Move…move away,” came his almost inaudible words.
Puzzled, Lois stood up and backed away a little ways.
Clark relaxed a bit.
Lois went back toward the table.
Clark sighed and rolled on to his back, clearly breathing better and looking less feverish.
‘Oh, that’s a relief,’ Clark thought to himself. He didn’t yet have the energy to voice the thought. What in the world was that pain about? He had never felt that way in his life, even dealing with Nightfall. He was invulnerable, after all! Suddenly he realized that was no longer a true statement.
Lois was an investigative reporter and also a very logical person. ‘What is new here that is hurting Clark,’ she thought to herself. Gripping the necklace in her hand while it still hung around her neck, she realized that was it and removed it from her neck.
Holding it in her hand, she saw he was still stretched out on the floor. He seemed the same, not better. But he was fine when he stood by the table. Maybe if she put the necklace back in the box he would feel better again. Putting the necklace back in the box with the earrings, Lois closed the lid and looked back at Clark. Hearing a sigh of relief, she began to walk back toward him, leaving the box on the table.
Clark sat up and shook his head as if to get his brain working again. He realized Lois was slowly walking back toward him and he began to scoot backwards to keep a distance from her.
But keeping a distance from Lois was not what he wanted to do in his life. So he stopped and waited for the pain to start again as she approached.
Clark watched her approach warily and then realized he felt heavy, as if he were human and not super. Although he had what he thought was a trim build, he was tall guy but heavy due to his dense molecular structure. He tried to think “up” and nothing happened. He looked over at the wall beside him and couldn’t see through it. He listened and the world was strangely quiet, although he could hear Lois speak in a normal voice.
“Clark, are you feeling better?”
“Yes,” he heard himself answer. “But apparently I’m no longer ‘super’.”
Lois stopped, her jaw dropping in amazement. “What!”
“Apparently I no longer have my special abilities.”
“How? What? Was it the green rock?”
“What green rock?”
“The gift that Rita left me. It was a necklace made from beautiful green rocks. I wore it over to you when you were lying on the floor.”
Clark huffed out some air. It still hurt to even breathe. “No, I didn’t see any beautiful necklace. I had my eyes scrunch closed in pain and now I don’t have any of my abilities.” Clark listened to the anger in his voice and words and chastised himself. He didn’t need to take his nascent pain out on Lois. He loved her and she loved him and he knew she would not intentionally hurt him.
“I’m sorry, Lois. That didn’t sound right. But that pain was real.” He felt her hand touch his forehead again.
“Well, you are cooling off and not sweating anymore. It was like you had a high fever. But you never get sick!”
“Not until now anyway,” Clark admitted ruefully. “What was that stuff?”
Lois held up the card that came with the gift. “Rita’s note with the present she gave me said it was prasiolite from Marion County, Kansas. Made by some friend of a customer of hers in the bridal gown department.”
Clark tried to stand by rolling on to his knees first. Lois steadied him as he straightened up and then stood and leaned on her with an arm around her shoulders as they walked, or more like stumbled, over to the couch. He plopped down in an ungainly manner, clearly winded.
Finally he managed, “That was no prasiolite. Prasiolite is plain old green quartz and I’ve never encountered any with an effect like that. Marion County is where we are.”
“I’ll show you the box.” Lois walked back to the table, picked the box up and raised it up in the air.
Clark had to crane his neck to see and when he did he saw the silver jewelry box. That didn’t do anything to him. “Bring it closer over here.”
Lois approached him slowly, bringing the box closer to him.
“Nothing,” he sighed in relief.
She stood in front of him, holding it.
He clenched his jaw and said, “Open it.”
Lois cracked the box open just a tiny bit.
“AAAAAH,” Clark yelled in pain and clutched his stomach.
Lois quickly shut the box.
“Whew,” Clark sighed in relief again. “That’s it for sure. Whatever it is. Why does the box protect me?”
Lois returned the box to the table and came back to sit by Clark. She reached over for his hand and held it now that he was no longer in pain. “Several years back I did a story on a jewelry thief. He didn’t steal jewelry, he stole jewelry
boxes. Some are very valuable and he just liked them for some reason. Anyway, in the Art Deco period they were made from lead and then coated in silver amalgam. So the box is lead, I suspect.”
Clark took a deep breath and stood up. He was a little wobbly at first, but then gained his land legs and walked over to the box. He tried to x-ray it, but his vision still wasn’t working. He picked it up and held it and had no ill effects. He shook it and could hear the jewelry inside rattle, but just with normal hearing.
Putting down the box in disgust, he said, “Well, that is a fine turn of events now. How am I supposed to go and help Pete?”
Since he was comfortable by the table, Lois came over and pulled out a chair and sat. Then he did too.
Trying to sound reasonable, she said, “Well you are still an able bodied human being if we don’t run into any of this stuff. I wonder how long the debilitating effect will last?”
“Maybe permanently?” Clark just shook his head morosely.
Lois reached over and stroked his back comfortingly. “Well, you know, in a sense this is lucky.”
An incredulous expression on his face, Clark turned and looked at her in amazement. “Lucky, how?
“Because we found it out here and we found it out now. Not when you were in the middle of some action, maybe even something like Nightfall.”
Turning in her chair to clasp both of Clark’s hands, Lois looked him in his sad eyes. “Clark, you are not alone anymore. I’m here with you and I felt no effect from the green stones. Rita didn’t either, I’m sure.
We can help you now, by protecting you from this stuff. But I guess there is a downside.” She gripped his hands a little tighter and shook them a bit.
“Downside?”
“We can’t tell this rock from plain old quartz. Only you can do that. By your reaction to it.”
“Oh. Oh, joy.” He looked despondent.
“But you’ve lived here all your life and never encountered this stuff?” She released his hands and sat back.
He shook his head no. “But I left at 15 soon after my abilities started to kick in. Maybe that’s why.”
“Could be. Could this be what Bureau 39 is looking for over at the Ross’?”
“How would they know about it? And how would they detect it?”
“Hey, you’re the forensic scientist. Think!”
Clark shook his head and imagined his brain was rattling around his skull. “Yeah. It must be radiation only I am sensitive too. But maybe a regular Geiger counter would detect it. Or maybe not. How would they know about it?”
“That I don’t know. They had all kinds of weird stuff in that warehouse on Bessolo Blvd. But if it is a type of radiation, doesn’t distance and the amount of the substance affect the effect on you?”
“I would assume it would follow the inverse-square law like all other radiation. That generally applies when energy is radiated outward radially from a point source. Since the surface area of a sphere is proportional to the square of the radius, as the emitted radiation gets farther from the source, it must spread out over an area that is proportional to the square of the distance from the source. So that means the radiation passing through any body area is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the point source. The further away, the weaker the effect by a factor of two.”
“Can anything protect you?”
Reaching over and holding up the jewelry box, Clark said, “Lead. Lead shields other radiation, why not this stuff?” He waved the box at her as if to prove the point.
“You could wear a lead suit.”
Clark looked at her incredulously. “Wear a lead suit? Even with my strength, assuming I get it back, that would be clumsy and make rescues more difficult. I’d look like Iron Man!” He shook his head in denial of the concept.
“You keep thinking. I’m going to go make some tea. That’ll perk you up.” She got up and went toward the kitchen.
“Ah, Lois, there’s some canned soup in the cupboard. I’m hungry.” Clark looked surprised and sheepish at once.
Lois smiled. “Well, you wanted to be human, now you are. And being hungry is a good sign of improved health.”
“Oh, and Lois, there’s some orange wrapped expedition meal packs in the cupboard too. I’ll have one of those, too, please.”
Lois beamed at him from the doorway. “Attaboy, Clark. You’re on the mend. Be right back.”
*+*+*+*+*+*+
During the late afternoon the clouds broke and Clark found some sun and basked in it. He felt better, but still not super. Out of necessity, his plan had changed and he was openly living on the farm. He had driven the farm truck out of the barn and parked it in front of the house to show a means of transportation to anyone curious. As on many a farm, he left the keys in the ignition.
Content in his chair out in the back yard, Clark heard the truck start up suddenly. He leaped out of the chair and ran around the house to see the truck disappear in the direction of the Ross farm.
“Oh, Lois. Be careful. I can’t help you.”
Realizing he was feeling better after the short run, he took off for his secret shortcut to the Ross farm. He would keep Lois out of trouble somehow.
Lois drove up the driveway of the Ross farm. Even if she had never been here before, she would have known where to go. There were large earth movers roughly plowing up the fields and ruining the planted crops and two large tent structures covering the field near the road. There was no sign of life in the farmhouse.
A lady with a clipboard appeared to be directing the efforts outside the near tent.
Lois approached her in a confident manner, holding the papers she had brought from the Planet. Lois read her nametag and it said “SHERMAN.”
Sherman preempted Lois’ opening speech with “Sorry. Off limits to the public.”
Waving her press pass that clearly said “Metropolis Daily Planet” and had her picture on the laminated badge, Lois said, “I’m not the public. I’m the press.”
“We've already issued a statement to the local paper,” Sherman countered.
“I’m Lois Lane from the Daily Planet in Metropolis. Perhaps you’ve read my stories, since you clearly don’t live here in Smallville. My editor, Perry White, sent me here to investigate what you are investigating and why.” She waved the papers around.
Carol Sherman narrowed her eyes and replied, “You write all those Superman stories in the Daily Planet, don’t you?”
Lois glared back. “Yes I do. Do you have a problem with that?”
Not answering directly, Sherman said, “I'm Carol Sherman, EPA Field Liaison. What's a newspaper like yours doing here?”
”That's why we're called the Daily Planet. We cover the world.”
Sherman turned and gestured to the heavy equipment. “What you're seeing here is an ecological risk assessment. During the sixties, the owner used a lot of pesticides and we're concerned about seepage into the local ground water.”
“Giving the people more than they bargained for at the dinner table?”
“That's it. Public safety. No big story, I'm afraid.”
“I’ll need to speak with the property owner.” Lois leaned forward forcefully.
“The Rosses been given relocation money during the testing. They didn't say where they went.”
‘Ha, I know where they went. I’m one up on you,’ Lois thought. “Do you have a copy of your story for the local paper?”
Sherman relaxed a bit at Lois’ less confrontational attitude and handed her the formal press release. “Here you go.”
“Thank you. To quote a famous actor, ‘I’ll be back.’”
“That’s up to you. But the facts and the story won’t change.”
‘I’ll just bet they won’t,’ Lois thought as she climbed back into the truck and spun dirt out of the driveway.
Halfway back to the Kent farm she saw Clark leaning against the fence beside the road with his thumb out like a random hitchhiker.
Lois stopped with a squeal of tires and Clark walked over and opened the passenger door. “What are you doing out here?”
Clark climbed into the seat, turned to her and shrugged. “I went over to see what was happening at the Ross’ – the conventional way. Actually I have a short cut behind the barn that I used as a kid.”
Lois stared at him in incredulity. “Are you crazy! If that field is full of green rock you’ll get worse!”
“That’s just it, Lois. I didn’t feel anything. There’s no green rock there. They are digging up that farm for nothing!
*+*+*+*+*+*+
tbc
Artemis
Almost there!
TOC
