Just got back from Chicago and ran to the boards -- got caught up with my reading and then opened the e-mails from my BRs so I could use their suggested changes before I posted this section.
I also discovered that Sas isn't feeling well -- must have caught what Laswa had. I'm happy to see Laswa is feeling great and hope that Sas soon joins her. Again thanks to both Sas and Laswa for their continued support and encouragement--they have made this final excursion into the world of the Smallville Players so much fun.
From part 8
“What *are* you?” Clark asked looking at Claire who had remained after class per the instructor’s wishes. “*Who* are you?”
Now Part 9
“We know who she is. Don’t we, mommy.”
“Yes, son. We know.”
##########
“I’m a strange visitor from another planet,” Claire said smiling.
“What?”
“No, no. That’s your line,” she told him. “I’m a strange visitor from the future--from 2121 to be exact. My name is Claire Kent and I’m your great, great, great granddaughter.”
* * *
H.G. Wells checked the dials and moved over to stand beside Jonathan Kent. “It’s prepared,” the writer told Jonathan, who then signaled to his wife.
Martha nodded.
Jonathan readied his hand on the lever that would put the stage into absolute darkness.
Martha looked at her two actors. “We have rehearsed this scene over and over again in the light. You know what each of you has to do. The only difference is that now we have to do it in total darkness. My plan is to try this many times over the next two weeks so that it works flawlessly. I don’t want anyone getting hurt, and I do want you to feel very comfortable with the movements.”
“Okay,” Lois told the director. “I’m ready.”
“When we get to hell week,” Martha explained, “Jimmy will have the entire light board synchronized to your actions. Right now, we’ll just shut off all the lights, so we can rehearse this part in the actual conditions. The furniture is all there, the doors are working. The props are ready. Is there anything else you need to make this happen?”
“I’ll have no problem at all,” Dr. Post said.
“I’m sure you won’t, Doctor. You’re the consummate professional and so very capable. The lights are still on at this point,” she reminded them. “Roat is in the bedroom disposing of Mike, who he has just killed. Suzy is trying to get away. Jonathan knows the cue and will put you in the dark, once we get there. Again, just remember that the dark is your friend, Lois, but you are still a little tentative at the beginning because you are facing a murderer. Dr. Post, you are incapable of maneuvering in the dark, so your goal is to get the lights back on as soon as possible. Let’s begin.”
Tempus donned his dark sunglasses and black leather jacket to vilify as much as possible, the part of the Roat character. Even though this was not dress rehearsal, he wanted to use this costume to give him a better opportunity to allow his evilness to flow over the footlights. He moved into the bedroom. “Ready,” he called out.
Lois cautiously felt her way round the couch toward the stairway, but just as she reached for the railing, Tempus, as Roat, entered from the bedroom where he has just supposedly disposed of Mike/Dan’s dead body.
Dr. Post paused, giving Suzy the false hope that she might be able to sneak out, and then he chuckled maliciously.
Suzy froze.
Tempus walked up the steps toward the door that goes to the outside hallway and meticulously removed a chain from his pocket. He slowly and purposefully began to circle it around the doorknob and the stair railing, lashing it down securely, and then he took a few steps toward the petrified woman.
Lois slowly backed away as she heard him move toward her.
Roat/Tempus: I’ve locked us in, Suzy...
* * *
Dystopia
December
2121
The key turned in the lock as Wil Kent was restored to his cell. Scott Purcell awoke and looked up as Wil began to pace back and forth like the caged lion he was.
“They’ll be here soon,” the older prisoner told the younger.
“To carry out the sentence?” Scott asked.
“No, to save us. Claire will be here soon. I know it!”
* * *
Smallville, Kansas
Friday
April 1, 1994
“I have to go!” Claire exclaimed looking at the clock over the door!
“Go where?” Clark asked her.
“They’re just about ready to do it,” she insisted and moved toward the door.
Clark, using super speed, maneuvered in front of her to block her exit. He placed his hands on her shoulders and looked directly at her.
Sensory perceptions began to bombard him--visions of Tempus’ eyes, sounds of his mother placating that man, the feel of Claire slightly trembling under his touch, the taste of fear in his own mouth.
“Tell me! You have to tell me.”
* * *
Tempus, in his role as Roat, removed from his pocket a very lightweight chiffon scarf and turned to look at Suzy. He deftly flung the scarf into the air so it slowly floated down toward Lois’ head.
She recoiled from it violently, putting her hands up as she felt this unknown entity brush her. The scarf tangled in her fingers and she backed away from it as though bat wings fluttered around her. Finally, it fell to the floor.
Roat watched all of this as though she was some kind of bug in an experiment and smiled ruthlesssly.
Suzy backed away a few steps.
Roat/Tempus: (Quietly, moving his mouth to within a hair's breath of her ear) Do you frighten easily? Everybody’s frightened of something.”
* * *
“I don’t frighten easily,” Clark told Claire, his hands grasping her shoulders more tightly. “But I’m beginning to be scared. I’m trying to follow you...trying to understand all of this. But, but...there’s something you’re not telling me,” he insisted, releasing his grip immediately as he noticed a slight flicker of pain cross Claire’s eyes.
He took a deep breath, trying desperately to quell his anxiety and to trust the young woman who stood in front of him. “Is it about Lois? Is she in danger?”
* * *
Martha started to jot a note down on her legal pad as she saw a section of the scene that could be improved upon, and then stopped. This was not a rehearsal that would ultimately prepare the two actors for this very scene on stage. This was the last time these particular actors would be doing this scene as soon reality would interfere. Martha looked up and watched the fictional characters getting closer and closer to that very real moment.
Roat walked around Suzy, slowly, eventually arriving directly in front of her.
Once again, as she had been meticulously staged by the director, Lois took a few steps away from him.
Roat/Tempus: I’m not going to ask you for it again, Suzy... You’re just going to give it to me, aren’t you?!
Lois felt her lower back reach the edge of the table. She took a half a step to the side and slowly moved her hands behind her, out of Roat’s vision, to feel for the flowers.
Tempus moved closer and closer. He touched her eerily on the arm to torture her.
Lois, her hand securely around the vase, threw its contents into her tormentor’s face.
His hands flew to his eyes as if the ammonia affected him. The prop vase, filled only with water, did no actual damage.
Martha watched the movements. Tempus was doing a good job. But soon, very soon, he would have something authentic to react to.
Suzy made a violent dash for the bench lamp which was located left of the couch, knocking over a chair and stumbling over the fallen piece of furniture on her way toward the remaining source of light.
Suzy's faltering steps, gave Roat a chance to recover. He saw what she was aiming for and went round the other side of the couch in an attempt to reach for the lamp before she arrived. But Suzy had heard him move and abruptly changed direction hurling herself across the room. She reached the light switch by the bedroom door--the switch that would also operate the lamp.
Roat made a frantic dash to get to his victim before she could reach the alternate electrical fixture, but he was too late. Lois, in her gutsy role of Suzy, switched the bench light off from the prop bedroom light switch.
Jonathan watching all of this from stage left, pulled the lever down just as Lois touched the switch, and the stage was plunged into complete darkness.
Lois stood still as she had been directed to do; and Tempus as the script dictated, now no longer able to see, threw his sunglasses away. They clattered to the floor as he groped for the bedroom light.
The two actors carried through the movements as choreographed by Martha. And, as almost if in a dance; the two vied for space and control.
Tempus, arriving finally at the bedroom switch, turned the light back on. Jonathan saw the cue and timing it carefully, pulled the lever up simultaneously with Roat’s movements, so some light bathed the stage.
Roat/Tempus: Ah!
Lois, hearing Roat's reaction and realizing the light had been restored, kicked off her shoes and made a dive for the bench lamp. Tempus took out a knife from his pocket and opened the blade.
Roat/Tempus: Don’t touch the lamp!
Not pausing for even a second, Tempus threw the knife directly at her.
* * *
“Is..Lois..in..danger?” Clark asked again deliberately.
“No. She is in control for the moment,” Claire explained, looking at the clock once more. “And Martha, Jonathan and H.G. Wells are with her.”
“H.G. Wells, the writer? But...”
“Trust me,” Claire persisted. “Lois will know exactly what to do. The script will guide her.”
* * *
The exact moment that the knife appeared to leave Tempus’ hand, Jonathan pulled the lever and the lights went out. The knife in actuality was dropped into a box filled with foam rubber that was behind the couch. At the same moment another knife leapt out from a small slit in the wall and quivered right above Lois’ head--the result of Linda Bott’s, the prop master, discharging her duty by springing the wire on the specially designed mechanism.
Using that as her cue, Lois smashed the lamp on the floor and then, in the dark once again, she reached up and took the knife.
Suzy/Lois: (Quietly) I have your knife, Mr. Roat.
Tempus paused, took out a box from his pocket and then struck a match.
Roat/Tempus: (Very calmly) I can see you now, Suzy...I have a whole box of matches...you’re over by the safe.
As directed, Lois moved carefully stage left by feeling the wall and then leaned down to pick something up. She turned and getting her bearings, walked, as she had in several rehearsals before this, straight for the man who had threatened her.
Tempus looked at what Lois was carrying--the gallon can of gasoline he had brought in earlier.
Roat/Tempus: No! (He blows out the match) I’ve blown it out. It’s *out!*
Suzy, using Roat’s voice to aim by, soused him thoroughly with the gasoline.
* * *
Rod Purcell made his way down the hallway from the high school library toward the auditorium. He had promised Claire that he would be there to help her. He was, if necessary, to use any sound effects to insure that the appropriate people were distracted when the.... But had he misunderstood? He had thought they were to meet in the library and then get over to the auditorium. But her being delayed by their teacher, Mr. Kent, might have changed everything.
As he rounded the corner, he stopped. Familiar footsteps were moving toward...but then they were gone. The faint sound of music from the band room on the other side of the hallway was interfering, and he dismissed the idea that had briefly flitted through his mind.
* * *
The liquid engulfed Tempus--but once again the gasoline was in actuality water and, as called for, Tempus choked and sputtered.
Suzy/Lois: Just try lighting a match *now!*
Roat/Tempus: I won’t!
She struck a match and held it out towards Tempus and moved two steps closer.
Suzy/Lois: Throw your matches onto the floor....now! Or I’ll set you on fire.
Roat/Tempus: They’re on the floor.
Suzy/Lois: (More calmly) Now stand perfectly still where you are...(With more strength in her voice)...and listen.
Tempus began to tiptoe away.
Suzy/Lois: (Sharply, but deliberately) Don’t move! However quietly you move, I can hear you.
He stopped moving.
Suzy/Lois: Now listen...go slowly to the bedroom door and walk so I can hear you...go on. Now go inside...close the door and knock from the other side. I have the key here.
Roat/Tempus: What are you going to do?
Martha held her breath. Wells moved closer to the stage and Jonathan moved his hand to be ready.
Suzy/Lois: Just go in there--close the door and knock. I’m going to lock you in...go on.
Roat opened the door, moved inside and...
* * *
Up on the catwalk high above the Smallville High School Auditorium stage, two people waited.
* * *
In Clark’s classroom, Claire restrained the anxious man.
* * *
Backstage, Wells and Jonathan stood poised.
* * *
Out in the Auditorium, Martha closed her eyes in prayer.
* * *
In the sound booth, Rod Purcell, who had just arrived, put on his headsets to check on Claire.
* * *
Anticipating his cue, Tempus erroneously jumped a part and neglected to allow Lois to close the door, which he was then supposed to force open, but instead, simply walked back into the living room.
Roat/Tempus: No! Let me stay in here. I won’t move. I’ll stay at the table...
* * *
In the sound booth high above the back of the auditorium, Rod Purcell became privy to several conversations, and all taking place at once.
From what Rod could gather, Dr. Post had skipped a line or two and was back in the living room continuing the scene. Having watched this portion several times before, Rod knew it was no tragedy, as the gist of the scene could be understood without those two lines. Yet, the chatter that was coming through the headsets from the various locations was way out of proportion to the incident.
Jonathan Kent and a voice he could not recognize were arguing.
Martha, wearing a headset in order to cue the backstage people, was anxiously trying to redirect them in a vein attempt to alter some cue to another spot in the scene.
Linda Botts, also on a head-set was asking a series of questions.
And where was Claire? She should be backstage as her entrance cue was coming up. But Rod’s attention was directed away from that dilemma as he heard something else.
Two more voices--voices not coming from headsets--but coming from the catwalk. Rod reached over and dialed down the headset sounds and dialed up the small microphone that was placed on the catwalk so a stagehand didn’t have to shout when adjusting the lights.
The voices were subdued--a woman, and...and...Dr. Light!
* * *
On a pitch-black stage, Dr. Post and Lois were continuing the scene, both unawares that several scenes were taking place in other parts of Smallville High School.
* * *
Keith Haley got up from his chair in the library and put his arm around Anne Holland’s shoulder. “Rod’s blind in more ways than one,” he said to her.
Anne looked at Keith and smiled. “Maybe we should go help him find Claire. If Rod thinks Claire needs us, then I’m sure he’s right.”
* * *
“Get ready,” Liz told Dr. Light, as she held a small flashlight over the script she was reading. “The cue is Lois screaming for help. That’s in about a page and a half.”
“I’ve got the appropriate lighting instrument ready,” the doctor told Liz, slightly adjusting the fresnel. He looked over at the script. “When Suzy screams, Claire in the part of Gloria enters the stage and tries to put on the lights, when she reaches for the light switch, *this* light goes on, the beam will aim right at her and she’ll be as blind as Lois Lane’s character.”
“So you’re finally joining us,” Liz told the man who just then came along the catwalk to stand by the other two. “We couldn’t have done this without you. Thank you for all the information on the rehearsal schedules.”
“Will I get my payment?” the man asked.
“Yes, your son will be able to see again.” Dr. Light informed him.
“No! Dad,” Rod whispered.
* * *
“We have another chance,” Martha told the people on the headsets.
“What’s going on?” Linda asked.
“Oh, Linda...uh...” Martha began. “We have to try another set of light cues. Can you do me a favor and come out here and help me with some sight lines. I need to know what the audience can and can’t see.”
“Sure,” Linda said, removing her headset and making her way from backstage to the front of the auditorium by going out the back door and down the hallway to avoid hampering the scene on stage.
“When’s the next opportunity?” Wells questioned Martha, now that Linda was out of earshot.
“In about thirty seconds, Suzy will stab Roat and force him into the bedroom. We can try it then.”
* * *
Clark took Claire’s hand. “Claire Kent,” he said softly, everything she had told him finally registering. “So that means that Lois and I will...”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“I can’t tell you. But none of it will happen unless the plan works.”
* * *
Roat, once more with the upper hand, pushed Suzy away from the table and toward the bedroom. Suzy picked up a sharp kitchen knife off the table and hid it behind her back.
Roat/Tempus: I’m only doing what you were going to do to me. I’m going to lock you in there...go on.
Tempus put his hand lightly on Lois’ elbow, but she shook him off and, turning while keeping the knife in front of her, started to go obediently to the bedroom. Roat followed just behind.
Roat/Tempus: That’s right. But you mustn’t shout. If I hear you call for help, I’ll set fire to the stairs. Then no one will be able to help you until the firemen arrive and by that time...
Tempus smiled to himself as he escorted Lois toward the bedroom. Suzy crying for help--what a mockery. Fairly soon Lois would be his patient and she wouldn’t be able to yell out ‘Superman save me’. All was ready. As soon as Lois was pregnant, and by his calculations, it should be any day now, she would come to him for pre-natal care and the ‘vitamins’ that Dr. Lathrop prepared will invade her system and that of the life in her womb.
Tempus would win--and no one would have to be killed--not that he was opposed to killing, it just allowed for more suffering this way. Lois’ child would simply not care about humanity--not care about creating a better world--a world that Tempus loathed.
Lois in the role of Suzy reached the doorway and as Roat tried to push her inside, she turned and caught hold of his coat. At first Roat, as the script directed, did not see the knife in Suzy’s other hand.
Suzy took the prop knife and plunged into Roat.
* * *
“She’s going to push him into the bedroom,” Martha told her conspirators over the head sets. “But be careful as Lois goes in with him for a few seconds. Get ready!”
* * *
Rod climbed carefully up the catwalk which hung forty-five feet above the auditorium. He moved quietly toward the three people. “Stop,” he said when he realized he was upon them.
Liz turned and taking a few steps toward him, pushed Rod off the catwalk.
Instantly, Dr. Purcell yelled out, as did Linda Botts and Anne Holland who had just entered the auditorium from different directions.
Just as instantly, a flash of red and blue appeared and caught Rod before he hit the seats below.
* * *
On stage, Lois stopped when she heard the shouts, but the momentum of her knife thrust propelled Tempus into the bedroom.
Claire ran on stage and pulled Lois further away from the bedroom door.
From off stage, Jonathan cranked the bedroom door shut, and Wells pushed appropriate buttons. An electrical whirring began as steam funneled out from under the bedroom door.
Superman flew back up to the catwalk and using electrical cable tied up the perpetrators.
“Okay, everyone. Take five!” Martha said, sinking into her chair.
Two beats later, the auditorium door opened. “Got here just at the right time,” Donald Botts told the group as he, too, sunk into a chair.
* * *
tbc
