After Nightfall: The Return of Superman
Chapter 4: Return
Clark was surprised at how quickly the blue sky turned black. He'd only left STAR Labs a few seconds ago but all of the blue was already gone. “Dr. Klein, can you hear me?”
“Loud and clear, Superman,” came the reply.
“Good,” Clark said. “I thought that there was going to be a time delay.”
“There will be later. For now please turn and start for the sun.”
“Okay. I'm turning now,” Clark replied. “Is the tracking equipment working?”
“Perfectly,” Bernie replied. “It helps to have all the equipment from the Nightfall mission. We put it together quickly, but it was well-built.”
“I'm now flying toward a point just to the right of the sun.”
“Yes, your change is on our tracking system. That's a good track for now. In about thirty minutes I'll have you make a course change to get you better lined up with the Swarm. But for now just keep going in the general direction of the sun. What you do need to do is to see how much you can accelerate. We're only reading you at around three hundred kilometers per second.”
“Okay, Dr. Klein. You may have to bear with me. I only remembered how to fly a little over a week ago. I'm going to try to accelerate. Can you please call out my speed every few seconds to let me know how I'm doing?”
“Sure, Superman. We are now showing you at eight hundred kilometers per second. Eleven hundred... twelve hundred.... fifteen hundred.... fifteen fifty..” There was a longer pause before Clark heard Bernie's voice again. “You seem to be holding steady at one thousand five hundred and seventy kilometers per second.”
“I think that's about as fast as I can go,” Clark replied. “It isn't taking any real effort to maintain this speed but I don't seem to be able to go any faster. There must be a trick to flying at higher velocities that I don't remember. I can try pushing harder, but I don't know how much that will help.”
“You should save your strength,” Bernie replied. “At sixteen hundred kilometers per second our projections were that you would reach the Swarm in ninety three minutes. At your current speed it will only take about two minutes longer. Those extra two minutes aren't worth the risk of you being fatigued when you reach the Swarm.”
“Okay, I'll try to maintain this speed. Please let me know if I slow down. I don't have any useful references to judge my speed out here, so I'll have to depend on you to tell me if I've slowed down.”
“I'll do that. Now, what I'd like to do for the next half hour is to try to identify some constellations and some key stars. If you can pick these out quickly and easily, I think it will help when I'm trying to give you directions”
“I understand,” Clark said as he looked around. “I'm looking at the Big Dipper now.”
~~~***~~~
‘The world stood in awe today as Superman reappeared to save the people of the Earth from the return of Nightfall in the form of the Swarm asteroid cluster.' Lois stared at that opening line again. It was a little sensationalist, but given the nature of what was happening, it felt right.
This was her third pass over this article. She had come into the office and started on this article as soon as Clark had left for STAR Labs. Writing the coverage for an event that hadn't happened yet was new for her. But in this case, she needed something to keep her mind occupied while Clark was off trying to save the world.
By now he should be most of the way to the Swarm. She'd half-expected some kind of report from EPRAD about an unidentified object heading from the Earth to the Swarm, but there had been no reports. Either they couldn't pick him up on their radar, or since they had no idea what he was, they simply weren't reporting anything. Of course, there was always the chance that – in deference to his agreement with Bernie – Dr. Aames was sitting on the news until something definitive happened.
If everything went as planned, Clark would divert the first of the large asteroids about ten minutes from now. As she stared at the television, Lois couldn’t help but be nervous. Last time Clark had tried something like this, he had been lucky to survive. Of course, that was why they had decided to only involve Bernie. Lois had a good feel about him right from the beginning. Since Clark knew he couldn’t do this without help, they agreed that they were lucky there was a person that they trusted who had access to everything needed for this mission.
She hoped they wouldn’t come to regret agreeing to let Bernie bring in help. It did make sense, and it had probably been unrealistic to believe that Dr. Klein could do all of the ground support work alone. She wasn't too worried about that woman at STAR labs. Bernie clearly knew and trusted her. The EPRAD connection was, however, another story. Aames seemed like a good guy, but as a senior official at EPRAD he had other pressures. She wondered if Aames would really remain silent about Bernie's mysterious mission. She hoped so. The last thing that they needed was to have EPRAD and the military bursting in at STAR labs while Clark was still out there.
“Lois, where’s Clark?” Perry bellowed from across the office.
She minimized her document to make sure no one else saw it while she was distracted. “We have a tip about something happening at STAR Labs. There is an experiment underway that might be able to mitigate the effect of the Swarm.”
Perry’s face went stiff and he just stared at her for several seconds. She'd been working for Perry long enough to recognize the 'wheels turning' expression on his face. He was clearly going over the implications of what she’d just said. “My office,” Perry barked, as he snapped suddenly out of his muse. Without waiting for her to reply, he then turned and headed back to his office.
Lois took just long enough to save her work and lock her workstation before she headed for Perry’s office. Knowing that he was waiting for her, she walked right in and closed the door behind her.
“Sit down,” Perry said. As soon as she was in the chair he continued. “What aren’t you telling me?”
Lois felt herself squirm. “Perry, I’m not sure…”
“Do you know why I asked that question?” Perry interrupted.
“Because Clark isn’t here?”
“No... Well, not exactly. I was wondering what you’ve been working on so intently all morning. With the Swarm cloud bearing down, I’d expected that you and Clark would be pounding the pavement for input on how people are getting ready. But instead, all morning I’ve seen you working intently at your workstation. I’ve also noticed that while you haven’t made or received any phone calls, you've checked the time every ten minutes since you’ve been in the office. Now, do you want to tell me something?”
~~~***~~~
“Okay, I’m facing the Earth now,” Clark said. “I’m surprised that there aren’t more rocks nearby. I thought this would be like flying in a gravel pile.”
Clark knew that there would be a full minute of time lag before he heard Bernie’s reply. It was frustrating, but there was no way around it. It did serve to remind him of how far he was from home. After a minute he finally heard Bernie’s voice. “Space is big. The fact that you see anything around you at all tells you that, by space standards, you're in the middle of a gravel pile.”
Clark was about to reply when he heard more from Dr. Klein. “Per our plan, this pass through the cloud will be to take out all of the fragments over seventy-five meters in diameter. Verify that you are facing the Earth with Polaris above you. Then use the etching on your helmet faceplate to pick out a target star and head for a position that is fifty-seven degrees to the right and eighteen degrees up. If you head that direction you should see the first target in about one minute.”
Clark found the mark on the grid in front of his face. He picked out a star in that direction and started for it. “I’m heading that way now,” he said. “It looks like the Earth is now at the opposite coordinate. It’s at minus fifty-seven and minus eighteen. If it is, then that will be easier for me to use. Most of the stars look the same. It will be easier if I only have to worry about the position of the Earth and the North Star. Can you give me directions using that method?”
Clark flew in the direction that Dr. Klein had indicated. He continued to scan that area ahead of him. He passed several smaller rocks, none more than about a yard across. Finally he saw something large ahead of him. That had to be it. “I have sight of the first target.”
Just as he reached the rock, he heard Bernie’s voice. “Superman, the location of the Earth is a good check after you start for your target star, but the reference system depends on using the locations of the Earth in front of you and Polaris directly above based on the marking in your faceplate. The software I'm using is designed to work based on those points. I think it would be safer if we stayed with the original method. So, once you finish with the first fragment, reorient yourself on Earth and Polaris. The next fragment will be at minus seventy-five degrees to the side and minus three degrees in elevation. Head for that as soon as you divert the first. It should only take you about thirty seconds to reach. From now on I'll provide new coordinates without waiting for you to reply.”
Clark was at the rock. It was large, for a rock but smaller than Clark expected. He verified the position of the Earth and pushed the rock sideways. It was hard for Clark to be sure, but it felt like the direction changed. “I just finished with the first one and am heading for target number two,” Clark reported.
Clark had spotted the second target and was almost there when he heard Bernie’s voice. “Target three will be at plus fifty-two horizontal and minus sixty-one vertical. Don’t forget to orient yourself first.”
Clark took a second to commit the coordinates to memory then approached the asteroid in front of him. This fragment was larger. It looked easily two-hundred yards across. Clark pushed it like the other one. It was clear to him that it was much more massive, but after a few seconds he was sure it moved. “Fragment two is done. I’m moving on to number three.”
He reoriented himself on the Earth and started for the third target. Just as he started out he heard Bernie’s voice. “Superman, I have verification that the first target was deflected. Based on the new trajectory it will pass well clear of the Earth. That deflection was many times the minimum necessary to miss the Earth. If you can continue to do that for all of them, then you won't have any problem. You should be on route to target three. As soon as I see that target two has been deflected, I'll send you the target four data.”
“I’ve received your target one confirmation and am on my way to target three,” Clark said. This looked to be a good start, but it was going to be a long day.
~~~***~~~
Lois pondered Perry’s question. Was she ready to tell Perry what was going on? She loved Perry, but if he knew what was going on, he’d probably be obligated as the editor to run with the story. She figured he might understand why Clark – no, Superman… she had to remember to say Superman – why Superman wanted this mission to be secret.
“Perry, I…” but she never finished. There was a rap and the door opened without Perry giving the go-ahead to come in.
Jimmy stuck his head in looking more excited than Lois could remember. “Sorry, but you guys need to see this!” he said excitedly. “EPRAD is reporting something going on in the Nightfall Swarm.”
Jimmy hurried away leaving Perry’s door open. Lois turned back to her editor to find him eyeing her carefully. “We aren’t done,” he said in an almost threatening tone. Then he stood and started out the door. Lois stood and followed him.
Once they were out in the bullpen, they found everyone gathered around the television which was tuned to the Nightfall information channel. “We now have confirmation that a third asteroid has changed course,” the LNN announcer said excitedly. “The previous one was one of the forty-seven largest fragments that government representatives were most concerned about. The third asteroid that changed course, while not one of the forty-seven, was one of the larger fragments. We have Chet Nielsen standing by at EPRAD. Chet what are we getting?”
At that moment, Lois felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to find Perry motioning her back to his office. In less than a minute, they were back in their seats. “So Superman is alive,” Perry offered.
“Yes,” Lois said after a long moment.
“Tell me.”
“I know this goes against your nature, but this was revealed to me in confidence. If I tell you, you have to promise me that none of this will end up in the Planet until he’s ready for a public announcement.”
“You know this is huge. We can’t just sit on this story.”
“Then all I can tell you is that it is Superman out there working to deflect as many of the asteroids as possible. I’ll have the complete story to you within minutes of the mission being completed.”
Perry just stared at her for a full minute. “Fine,” he finally barked, “all of this is off-the-record… for now.”
“Thanks, Chief,” Lois said. She took a deep breath. “Superman approached me and Clark about a week ago. He’s been suffering from the same amnesia that Clark went through. The difference with him was that not only did he lose his memory and identity, but he lost his powers as well.”
“He lost his powers? Then how did he survive?”
“He doesn’t know. He hasn’t been very forthcoming about where he’s been or what he’s been doing. He did tell us that he doesn’t remember anything from before Nightfall. In fact, he told us that he doesn’t have any memory at all of his Superman-related activities. He only discovered who he was when his powers started coming back a few weeks ago.”
“If he has no memories, why did he seek you out?”
“Once the powers came back, and he realized who he was, he remembered the post-Nightfall work that Clark and I did. He re-read all those articles and once he realized that Clark had suffered a similar memory loss, he wanted to know if there was anything that could restore his memories.”
“Why didn’t he let the world know that he survived?”
“After all that happened with Nightfall, he was unsure about returning to the public eye. Also, from what he told us, his powers only came back to their full strength about a week ago. I think he’d decided to come forward, but simply hadn’t gotten around to it yet.”
“So how did you know about what he’s doing now?”
“When he learned of the Swarm cloud, he knew he needed to do something. However, he didn’t want to the public to know about it until after the fact. He contacted us again and asked if there was anyone that Clark or I knew that would be able to help to facilitate a mission to the Swarm. I introduced Superman to Dr. Klein at STAR Labs yesterday afternoon. I don’t know much of the details, but I do know that Superman approached us with the idea of diverting those forty-seven largest asteroids that we’ve all been writing about.”
“But according to the EPRAD report that we just heard, he’s diverting other asteroids as well,” Perry countered.
“I heard. I have to guess that when he was working with Dr. Klein to define the scope of the mission, they decided to do more than just divert the forty-seven. I guess we shouldn’t be surprised at that. We’ve run stories ourselves that fragments much smaller than those included in the forty-seven would do significant damage.”
Perry considered that for a moment. “So where is Clark really at?”
“We got permission to monitor the mission with the understanding that nothing would be reported until we get the go-ahead from Superman. Clark is set up with a radio monitor so he can hear the exchanges between Superman and Dr. Klein.”
“So where is he?” Perry asked.
“I don't know. Superman took him to a place where he could monitor the mission, but I don’t know where that is.”
“Can you contact him?” Perry asked.
“No. Not until the mission is over.”
“What if something goes wrong? How does Clark get back from… wherever if Superman disappears again?”
She was quiet for a long time. There was a danger and a truth in Perry’s question far beyond anything he could guess. She’d been working extra hard all day to keep her mind away from that exact subject. Finally she realized that Perry was still waiting for an answer. She composed herself and tried to sound matter-of-face. “I don’t know,” she said hesitantly. “I… I'm sure that in case anything did happen, Clark will find a way to get home. Besides, both Superman and Dr. Klein seemed committed to not having any sort of repeat of the Nightfall mission.”
~~~***~~~
“Fragment three hundred seventy-three is done,” Clark said into his transmitter. Because of the way Bernie was providing the target information, Clark knew how many fragments he’d diverted so far. Bernie hadn’t told him which were the forty-seven that were his real primary targets, but he’d pushed enough large ones that he figured that there was a good chance that all of those had been taken care of. In fact, many of the more recent fragments had seemed a little on the small size.
Clark was about to repeat his message when he heard Bernie’s voice. “Superman, after fragment three seventy-three, please just wait for further instructions. I’ll provide you with information shortly.”
Clark was tempted to acknowledge the message, but the few times he’d tried to say anything back to Bernie other than the notification that each fragment had been dealt with led to confusion. So he just waited.
“Superman, I have verified that fragment three seventy-three is safe. I have also re-verified that all of the fragments in this target group have been diverted. There were actually only two hundred ninety-seven fragments based on the original plan for this pass, but you had extra time, so for the last half hour I’ve had you diverting fragments down to below ten meters. You need to start back to the Earth to maintain your safety margin.”
“Dr. Klein. This has been far less tiring than I thought it would be. I’d like to use some of my safety margin and do some more good out here.”
After a minute, he heard Bernie’s reply. “The largest of the remaining fragments are near the rear of the cloud, back where you started. The time it would take to reposition yourself to deal with those will deplete your extra air. The best use of your time is to start back. It will only take you about eighty minutes to make the return trip. Once you get here, then you can decide about making another mission.”
That made sense. And he’d promised Lois that he wouldn’t take unnecessary risks once he’d diverted the major fragments. “Okay, Dr. Klein. I’m starting back now.”
He lined up the Earth and concentrated on accelerating again. After a minute he heard Bernie. “Very good, Superman. I have you on course home and your speed is just over fifteen hundred kilometers per second. You should be here in eighty-three minutes.”
~~~***~~~
“Lois, have you heard from Clark yet?” Perry asked for about the twentieth time in the last two hours.
“No, Perry. I told you that as soon as I hear anything, I’ll let you know.”
Perry looked like Lois was deliberately torturing him on purpose. He started to speak but stopped himself. They’d agreed that nothing would be said aloud outside of Perry’s office that could reveal what was going on. “Have you been listening to the reports coming out of EPRAD?”
“Sure. All of the largest asteroid fragments have changed course. That group includes not only the forty-seven largest, but more than a hundred smaller fragments as well. That’s good, isn’t it?” she asked innocently.
“You must have heard the other reports. Almost everyone is speculating that this is Superman. It’s gotten so bad that many news outlets are openly wondering if it was EPRAD or the military that have been hiding him.”
Lois looked around nervously. “Well, I guess we – and the other responsible news outlets – will just have to wait until there is some credible evidence. I’ll admit that I would be thrilled if Superman was alive, but we just don’t know.” She made sure to emphasize those last few words. Perry’s frustration at not being able to use the information he had was making him careless.
Perry caught her message and looked a little embarrassed. “Yeah, right. Well, I’ll sure be glad when we do know something. You’re sure Clark has some kind of lead on this?”
She had to fight to keep from laughing. “He said he’d been sworn to secrecy. He was very excited about that lead and he told me to be patient.”
~~~***~~~
“So you think we’ll be able to get all of these?” Clark asked, looking at the long list in front of him.
“Dr. Klein thinks so,” Alyson answered. She'd been going over the list with him while Bernie checked equipment. “Based on how quickly you were able to navigate last time, and the ease with which you diverted the large fragments, we think it's doable. Our concern is that you’ll have trouble finding all of these smaller fragments. After all, we are talking about nearly a thousand individual pieces.”
“I agree. But there’s a lot of empty in that cloud. Anything as large as two meters in diameter will be noticeable. Are you sure it will be safe to let smaller fragments through?”
“We think so,” she replied. “I wish I could say we were sure that this would completely eliminate all of the threats, but we can’t.”
At that moment Bernie came up to the two of them. “If you try for smaller ones there are just too many. Even with the extra time and your improvements in locating the fragments, all our calculations show that you’ll be lucky to divert these. If we were to try to go smaller – let’s say down to one meter – there would be more than you could deflect even if you kept flying round trips up to the moment the Swarm passed the Earth. You have to believe us when we say that this is the best use of your time and the equipment we have.”
“If only I had more time,” Clark mused.
“Well, you do have a little more time, and that's part of this calculation. Remember that since the cloud is moving so fast, instead of the one hundred thirty minutes you had the first time, you will be able to spend one hundred seventy minutes working in the cloud. That’s part of why we have as many targets as we do. You will need every one of those extra minutes.”
“Okay. How long until we are ready?”
Bernie looked at the survival pack. “The battery pack has been changed out and the air tanks have been replaced. You could go right now, but I’d feel better if you could give us about ten minutes to run a set of tests before you go.”
“Do you need me for those tests?”
“Only the radio test, and we’ll run that one just before you leave after you put the pack on.”
“Good. I have an errand to run that will take about five minutes.”
“Errand?” Bernie asked.
“I promised Ms. Lane that I would give her the go-ahead to publish the story of what we did here.”
“That’s right. I’ve been so caught up in what we’ve been doing that I forgot about that part. Are you sure Mr. Kent has been monitoring the communications on that spare radio link? I was sure he would say something.”
“I’m sure. He swore not to say a word but I’m sure he’s hearing everything.” Clark looked at the wall clock. “It’s almost noon now. I’ll tell her that she can release the story at five p.m.”
“Shouldn’t we wait an extra few minutes so that we know that you make it back safely?”
Clark almost said that wasn’t important, but he knew better. “I’ll ask her how she wants to handle it. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“All, right. I’ll get on these tests,” Bernie said.
Clark shot out of STAR Labs and was inside their apartment in only a second. He went quickly to the phone and dialed Lois’s desk.
“Lois Lane,” he heard when she answered the phone.
“Hi, honey. I’m back home for a minute. I missed you and wanted to say hello.”
He heard her breath catch. “Clark, I’m… I’m glad you found time to call me. How’s the… assignment going?”
“Good. Everything is going according to plan. If fact, it’s turning out to be a little easier than I expected.”
“You said you’re home for a minute. That means you aren’t done?”
“No. The… interview this morning went well, but I need to have another go at this source. I was able to get all of the bigger pieces of information that I need, but there are a lot of smaller items that still need my attention.”
Lois was quiet for a few seconds. “Are you sure you’re up to this? We know that this source can be very dangerous if you approach him wrong. If you aren’t at the top of your game… Well, you know what happened last time.”
“Honey, I promise you that I won’t be taking any unnecessary risks. The guy that I’m collaborating with on this work has cautioned me several times about the same thing.”
“Okay,” Lois said, nervousness clear in her voice. “When will I be hearing from you?”
“It will be about five hours from now. When all the work is done, I’m going to head for home. I’m going to ask the other guy to call you and let you know that everything went well and that I’m nearly home.”
“Clark…” she sounded choked up.
“Honey, are you okay?”
“Yes,” she replied deliberately. “I… Please be careful. I need you to come back.”
He’d been afraid this would happen. Their rule was nothing on the phone that would reveal his Superman identity. But this was an extraordinary situation. “Lois, I wouldn’t be doing a second round unless I was sure this would be successful. I love you and will be with you tonight. Okay?”
“Yes. I love you. Please call me the minute you get home.”
“I will. And I’ll see you in a few hours. Good bye.”
“Bye,” she replied.
As Clark hung up the phone, he wished he was as confident as he’d told her.
TBC
Bob
